European Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Highlights of the Collection

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European Furniture in
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Highlights of the Collection

by Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide,
Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder

Photography by Joseph Coscia, Jr.

This beautifully produced volume is the first to survey

the Metropolitan Museum's world-renowned collection
of European furniture. One hundred and three superb
examples from the Museum's vast holdings are fea-
tured. They originated in workshops in England,
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria,
Russia, or Spain and date from the Renaissance to
the late nineteenth century. A number of them
belonged to such important historical figures as Pope
Urban VIII, Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, and
Napoleon. The selection includes chairs, tables, beds,
cabinets, commodes, settees and sofas, bookcases
and standing shelves, desks, fire screens, athéniennes,
coffers, chests, mirrors and frames, showcases, and
lighting equipment. There is also one purely decorative
piece, a superb vase made for a Russian noble family
who, according to one awestruck viewer, "owned all
the malachite mines in the world." The makers of
some of the objects are unknown, but most of the
pieces can be identified by label, documentation, or
style as the work of an outstanding European
designer-craftsman, such as André-Charles Boulle,
Thomas Chippendale, David Roentgen, or Karl
Friedrich Schinkel.

Museum curators Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide,

Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder discuss the his-
tory and significance of these objects, incorporating
information gleaned from new research and conser-
vation studies. The most important techniques of
furniture making and decoration are also described—
veneering, marquetry, joining, gilding, and inlay,
among others—and a glossary offers additional
information on these and many additional aspects of
the craft. In the introduction, Danielle O. Kisluk-
Grosheide discusses the history of the Museum's
collection. Her entertaining essay is accompanied by
historical photographs from the Museum's files and
views of several of the Museum's period rooms.

(continued on back flap)

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EUROPEAN FURNITURE
in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Highlights of the Collection

Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide • Wolfram Koeppe • William Rieder

Photography by Joseph Coscia, Jr.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Yale University Press, New Haven and London

This book is dedicated to the memory of James Parker

This publication is made possible by Andrew Augenblick and the Metropolitan Museum's Friends of European
Sculpture and Decorative Arts.

Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

John P. O'Neill, Editor in Chief and General Manager of Publications

Margaret Rennolds Chace, Managing Editor
Ellyn Childs Allison, Senior Editor
Bruce Campbell, Designer
Douglas J. Malicki, Production Manager
Minjee Cho, Desktop Publishing
Jayne Kuchna, Bibliographic Editor
Elaine Luthy, Indexer

All photographs of objects in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art are copyrighted by
The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Copyright © 2006 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.

Separations by Professional Graphics, Inc., Rockford, Illinois

Printing and binding by C. S. Graphics, Singapore

The CD-ROM was designed by Tsang Seymour Design, New York, and programmed by Flipped Lid,
New York.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 1-58839-178-7 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

ISBN: 0-300-10484-7 (Yale University Press)

Jacket illustration: French secretary on stand, ca. 1790 (no. 89)

Frontispiece: Detail of an early-seventeenth-century South German cupboard (no. 8)
Endpapers: Detail of the top of a French writing desk, ca. 1685 (no. 17)
Contents

vi Foreword

vii Acknowledgments

viii Notes to the Reader

2 A Brief History of the Collection by Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide

7 Highlights of the Collection by Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide,

Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder

247 Glossary by Rose Whitebill

250 Bibliography

269 Index

283 Photograph Credits

Foreword

Visitors to the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries and period rooms at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art enjoy one of the finest collections of European furniture
in the world. The curatorial staff of the department as well as outside specialists research
and regularly write about these objects in essays for scholarly journals and exhibition
catalogues, and the new information reaches the general public by way of wall labels,
websites, and audio tours. Yet neither the collection as a whole nor a selection of its most
interesting pieces has ever been the subject of a significant publication.
This eagerly awaited volume presents 103 superb pieces of furniture. Every aspect of
these Museum objects is examined, from their craftsmanship to their collection history.
The works are of many types and styles, but all were chosen for their exceptionally high
level of quality. Most are of French, English, German, or Italian origin, reflecting major
areas of departmental strength, but there are more than a few outstanding examples from
other countries as well. They range in date from the Renaissance, through the collection's
high point in the eighteenth century, to the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
The three authors of this volume—Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, Wolfram Koeppe,
and William Rieder—have long experience of this collection, as their numerous publica-
tions listed in the bibliography attest. All three began their careers at the Museum during
the time when James Parker, who died in 2001 and to whom this volume is dedicated,
was the principal curator of furniture in the department.
It is a pleasure to recognize the role played in the genesis of this book by my predeces-
sor, Olga Raggio. She supervised the acquisition of many of the objects discussed here,
and her expertise was a valuable resource for the authors. In the field of decorative arts,
curators work closely with conservators and scientists. The contributions of members of
the Departments of Objects Conservation and Scientific Research are gratefully acknowl-
edged. New photography is an important element of this book. Joseph Coscia, Jr.'s images
reveal to the reader not only the beauty of the furniture but also the intricacies of each
piece's fabrication. Multiple views and details are an invaluable aid to comprehending
furniture's many aspects. Accordingly, a CD-ROM of supplementary images has been
added to this volume—for the first time in a Museum publication. None of this would
have been possible without the approval of Director Philippe de Montebello, whose insis-
tence on excellence set the standard for this as for all projects in the Museum.
As the introductory chapter documents, the Metropolitan's European furniture collec-
tion reflects the taste and generosity of a number of private collectors, beginning a century
ago. One of the guiding lights of its formation and enrichment, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman,
remains an inspiration to and active supporter of the department. Through the Friends
of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, under the presidency of Frank R. Richardson,
she and a number of other collectors generously subsidized some expenses of this publica-
tion. Another "Friend," Andrew Augenblick, made an additional gift. The authors and
the department are grateful to all of these supporters for making possible the publication
of this splendid and timely book, which we hope will be the first in a series on the depart-
mental collections.

Ian Wardropper
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman,
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Acknowledgments

The authors are most grateful to Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan
Museum, for his enthusiastic support of this publication from its inception. Special thanks
are due to Ian Wardropper, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman of the Department of
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, for his unfailing encouragement.
We express our appreciation to Shirley Allison, Elizabeth Lee Berszinn, Roger Haapala,
Marva Harvey, Robert Kaufmann, Jeffrey Munger, Marina Nudel, Erin E. Pick, Olga Raggio,
Melissa Smith, Clare Vincent, Melinda Watt, and all the other members of our department
for their assistance in various ways. In particular we thank Rose Whitehill for compiling
the glossary. We wish to acknowledge the efforts of former and current departmental tech-
nicians William Kopp, Eric Peluso, and Bedel Tiscareño, who safely transported pieces
of furniture for examination, treatment, and photography, and Denny Stone, Collections
Manager, who coordinated many of these moves. We are grateful to Charlotte Vignon and
Florian Knothe, Annette Kade Art History Fellows, for their contributions.
Every art book must have good illustrations. Thanks to Joseph Coscia, Jr., Associate
Chief Photographer at the Metropolitan, this book has the very best. We appreciate the
kind assistance of Barbara Bridgers, General Manager for Imaging and Photography,
The Photograph Studio, and her staff, especially that of Robert Goldman and Thomas Ling.
We are much indebted to Lawrence Becker, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge,
Objects Conservation Department, and to conservators Linda Borsch, Nancy C. Britton,
Marijn Manuels, Pascale Patris, and Richard E. Stone. We are especially grateful to conser-
vator Mechthild Baumeister for her willingness to share her time and expertise helping us
to analyze various woods and explaining technical aspects of furniture construction.
In the Editorial Department, we thank John P. O'Neill, Editor in Chief, for supervising
every aspect of the book's editorial preparation and production and for allowing us to miss
several deadlines. Special thanks go to our unsurpassed editor, Ellyn Allison, who, in her very
kind and self-effacing manner, smoothed out the manuscripts of three authors who sometimes
contradicted each other. Without the painstaking efforts of Jayne Kuchna, the references in
the endnotes and the bibliography would have been filled with errors and omissions. Minjee
Cho carefully directed the setting, layout, and revisions of the type. Our warm thanks go
to Douglas J. Malicki, who oversaw the production of the book and the CD-ROM, and to
Peter Antony, Chief Production Manager. Bruce Campbell was responsible for the elegant
design. We are grateful to Catarina Tsang and David Weinstock for their fine work on the
CD-ROM and to Elaine Luthy for her meticulously prepared index.
Kenneth Soehner, Arthur K. Watson Chief Librarian, and the staff of the Thomas J. Watson
Library made it possible for us to carry out the necessary research by ordering new publica-
tions for the project and accommodating countless requests for interlibrary loans. We owe
many thanks as well to archivist Jeanie M. James for carefully checking crucial facts.
Family, friends, and colleagues in other institutions have read our manuscripts, shared
information, and offered useful advice. We are particularly indebted to Janice Barnard,
Christian Baulez, Renate Eikelmann, C. Willemijn Fock, John Hardy, Eugene J. Kisluk,
Jörn Lohmann, Michelangelo Lupo, Edmée Reit, Bertrand Rondot, Achim Stiegel, and
Lucy Wood.

Danielle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder

Curators, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

vu
Notes to the Reader

The Book
One hundred and three pieces of furniture in the Museum's collection are featured in this
book. Each is shown in a large color illustration that bears the number of the object and its
entry. All other illustrations in the entries are numbered consecutively, from Figure i in the
first entry to Figure 138 in the last. The illustrations in the introductory chapter are not
numbered.
In the entry headings, information about each object is always given in the same
sequence; the omission of any line of information, such as the name of the maker, indicates
that the information is not available or that the line is not applicable. The name of each
object is given in English, followed by the name in the original language if that name is also
in common use. Birth and death dates of makers, designers, and others who worked on the
furniture are given in the heading when they are known. Life dates for other significant
persons are given in the text. Measurements are given to the nearest eighth of an inch, with
the height preceding the width, preceding the depth.
The author's initials follow the text of each entry. Translations of quoted material are
by the authors unless otherwise stated in the notes. When "left" and "right" are used in
descriptions of furniture, the viewpoint is always the observer's.
Bibliographical references are cited in the notes in abbreviated form. The corresponding
full citations are given in the bibliography.
The symbol œ is used in the entries to indicate that a pertinent image may be found on
the CD-ROM (see below). These references are to images that illustrate a point in the text
or enrich a description of the furniture in a way that the book illustrations do not do.
There are many more images on the CD-ROM than are referred to in the entries; the reader
is encouraged to use the disk whenever possible to enhance enjoyment and appreciation of
the book.

The CD-ROM
Additional images are accessible on a CD-ROM disk in a sleeve at the back of the book.
They include full views, zooms, and details of the featured pieces and some additional
images of matching furniture. Warranty, license-agreement, and permitted and prohibited
use information is given on the last screen of the CD-ROM. The sequence of objects in the
book is the same as that on the CD-ROM. Go to "Contents" (the second screen) to find a
link to the object you want to study in greater detail.

Following are instructions for installing and running the CD-ROM:

Minimum System Requirements (Mac): 660MHz G3 running Mac OS x 10.2 with

256 MB memory and a CD-ROM drive. To open: double click the MET file located on
the CD-ROM.

Minimum System Requirements (PC): Windows 2000/XR1.2 GHz (2 GHz recom-

mended) with 256 MB of memory (512 MB recommended) and a CD-ROM drive.
To open: The file should auto-run. If it does not, double-click the MET.exe file located
on the CD-ROM.
European Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
A Brief History of the Collection
DANIELLE O. KISLUK-GROSHEIDE

The collection of postmedieval European furniture at The Its initial strength in French furniture was the result of a gift in
Metropolitan Museum of Art bears witness to the sophisticated 1906 from the financier and philanthropist J. Pierpont Morgan
taste of several generations of generous donors and committed (1837-1913), who was elected the Museum's president in 1904.
trustees, as well as to the foresight and connoisseurship of astute Earlier in 1906, Morgan had purchased, for four million French
Museum curators. Its range and depth are impressive, and as this francs, the collections of French eighteenth-century and medieval
book attests, it boasts a wealth of objects that are not only exem- art assembled by the Parisian architect, decorator, and ceramist
plary in their beauty and craftsmanship but also of great historical Georges Hoentschel (1855-1915). Both collections were housed in
and cultural interest. Most of the pieces discussed in this volume a special gallery built for that purpose on the boulevard Flandrin
are currently on display and are enjoyed by thousands of visitors in Paris (see illustration below). Whereas the medieval works of
each year in a series of permanent galleries and in European art were merely a loan, Morgan presented the French decorative
period-room settings for which the Museum is equally renowned. artworks to the Museum outright. By May 1907, 364 packing
In a statement issued to the public on 3 March 1871, the cases containing the Hoentschel collections were stored in the
founders of the Metropolitan declared that the institution should Museum's basement. The eighteenth-century portion, comprising
have among its holdings representative examples not only of more than 1,600 objects, included furniture, several pieces of
painting and sculpture but also of the decorative arts. It was their which had a royal provenance (see no. 46); a study collection of
intention and special wish "to begin at an early day the formation woodwork; and some 750 gilt-bronze mounts. This unrivaled gift
of a collection of industrial art, of objects of utility to which led not only to the establishment of a Department of Decorative
decorative art has been applied, ornamental metal-work, carving Arts, with Rembrandt scholar William R. Valentiner as curator,
in wood, ivory and stone, painted glass, glass vessels, pottery, but also to the creation of a new wing designed by the architects
enamel, and all other materials." The Museum officers further McKim, Mead and White, which opened to the public on
observed that the political and social changes then taking place in 15 March, 1910 (see illustration on page 3). Over the years, the
Europe made that time a particularly favorable one for purchasing department underwent many changes. In 1935 its present scope
decorative items and that the need to form such a collection as
tasteful models for "our mechanics and students" was most press-
ing. The collection would clarify for the design student "what
can be done in art, and where the limits are set[,] to overpass
which is excess and consequent failure."
Although European furniture was not specifically mentioned in
the statement, it must certainly have been the founders' intention
to acquire in this area as well. Gifts and purchases of European
furniture during the first three decades of the Museum's existence
were neither numerous nor exceptionally memorable, but that sit-
uation began to change after the turn of the century, when several
significant German pieces were acquired. In 1903 an ivory collec-
tor's cabinet (no. 13) made in Augsburg between 1655 and 1659,
but initially thought to be eighteenth-century Italian, was bought
at the estate sale of Henry G. Marquand (1819-1902). A discrimi-
nating collector and patron (see also the entry for no. 103),
Marquand was one of the founding trustees and benefactors of the
Museum and had served as its president from 1889 t o 1902. Two
years later, an imposing Nuremberg Fassadenschrank (cupboard
with an architectural facade) was added to the collections (no. 8).
Both of these purchases, and many others over the years, were
made possible through a generous endowment fund established
by Jacob S. Rogers (d. 1901), a manufacturer of locomotives in
Paterson, New Jersey, for the purpose of acquiring art objects and
books. With other funds, such as those received in 1917 from
Isaac D. Fletcher (ca. 1845-1917), a director of coal companies,
the Museum made additional acquisitions of furniture.
A number of exceptional gifts and bequests have made the Photograph from an undated album showing some of the French objects i
Metropolitan's collection one of the most important in the world. the Georges Hoentschel collection at 58, boulevard Flandrin, Paris.
was determined, and in 1977 it assumed its current title, Depart-
ment of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts—ESDA, for short.
Significant pieces of European furniture entered the Museum
through the generosity of other New York donors, such as
William K. Vanderbilt (1848-1920). In his bequest, Vanderbilt
left the Metropolitan a famous black-lacquer and gilt-bronze sec-
retary and matching commode made by the French cabinetmaker
Jean-Henri Riesener for Queen Marie Antoinette (nos. 82, 83).
Today they are possibly the best-known pieces of royal furniture
outside France. Subsequent benefactors presented outstanding
objects that had also been commissioned for the use of the unfor-
tunate queen. In 1941 Ann Payne Blumenthal (d. 1973), the
second wife of George Blumenthal (1858-1941), a trustee of the
Museum and for seven years its president, donated a daybed,
armchair, and fire screen by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sene for Marie
Antoinette's Cabinet de Toilette at the Château de Saint-Cloud
(nos. 86-88). Three years later, Susan Dwight Bliss (d. 1966)
enriched the collections with an armchair from Versailles by
François Foliot II (no. 74), and at the end of the decade the
Museum received a mechanical table (no. 77) from the estate of
the stockbroker and well-known collector of old master paintings
Jules S. Bache (1861-1944). This last piece was the second table
by Riesener with a Versailles provenance to enter the Museum.
An earlier table by the queen's favorite cabinetmaker (no. 73) had
been an astute purchase at the 1932 sale that dispersed the con-
tents of the Blumenthal residence in Paris.
The cultural foundation established in 1929 by the chain-store
magnate, art collector, and philanthropist Samuel H. Kress (1863-
1955) made an unprecedented gift to the Metropolitan in 1958.
Consisting mostly of French decorative artworks, it included many
delightful pieces of Sèvres porcelain and no fewer than seventeen
porcelain-mounted objects, a large number of which had been
amassed by a banker to the British royal family, Sir Charles Mills
(1792-1872). The generosity of the Kress Foundation has made
the Museum the foremost repository in the world of porcelain-
mounted furniture and the envy of many another institution
(see nos. 63, 67).
Meanwhile, the fledgling Department of Decorative Arts was
augmenting the Museum's holdings of English furniture. The pace
was slow at first but quickened markedly in 1914 with a bequest
from former assistant secretary of state John L. Cadwalader
(d. 1914). A member of the Museum's board of trustees from
1901 until his death, Cadwalader left the Metropolitan thirty-
three pieces of British eighteenth-century furniture and twice that
many examples of Chelsea porcelain. Growth in this field contin-
ued with the 1918 purchase of twenty-three English objects,
mostly chairs (for example, no. 19), from the collection of
George S. Palmer (1855-1934), a textiles manufacturer in New
London, Connecticut. Palmer's outstanding collection of American
furniture was acquired by the Museum as well. In 1924 three
permanent galleries were installed to house the Museum's by then
The French decorative-arts galleries in the Morgan Wing at the Metropolitan
Museum shortly after they opened, in 1910.
considerable holdings of English furniture, which ranged in style
from Elizabethan to Sheraton. They formed a modest complement
to the American Wing, which had opened on the north side of the
Museum the same year. The spacious new galleries (see illustration
on page 4, above) were quickly filled with additional purchases,
among them—in 1926—a striking Palladian side table attributed
to the carver Matthias Lock (no. 43). Also in 1926 the Museum
acquired the so-called Backgammon Players Cabinet (no. 99).
Decorated, with a painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, it had been
made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company for the London
International Exhibition of 1862. Appreciation of nineteenth-
century exhibition pieces was still in its infancy—there was, in
fact, a general contempt for furniture from the Victorian era—
thus, this acquisition showed remarkable foresight.
During the Depression the Museum obtained two outstanding
mid-eighteenth-century rooms: the Dining Room from Kirtlington
Park, Oxfordshire, and the Dining Room from Lansdowne
House, in London. They were kept in storage until the 1950s,
when a third example, the Tapestry Room from Croóme Court,
Worcestershire, was given by the Kress Foundation (see fig. 93).
The installation of all three period rooms prompted additional
purchases and donations of English furniture, such as the
marquetry-decorated cabinet on stand from the Marion E. and
Leonard A. Cohn collection (no. 24). None, however, shaped the
Museum's holdings of English art so markedly as did the many
gifts and large bequest of Irwin Untermyer (1886-1973). A justice
of the appellate court in New York and for many years a Museum
trustee, Untermyer collected voraciously in the fields of European
bronzes and English silver, needlepoint, and porcelain, but his
great passion was clearly English furniture. Numerous pieces made
 One of the galleries of English furniture at the
Metropolitan Museum in 1924.

of oak, walnut, and mahogany—all of very high quality—that The latter was designed to fill a focal position in the state rooms
once furnished Judge Untermyer's Fifth Avenue apartment (see of the Farnese Palace in Rome. Important Italian objects from the
illustration below) now line the walls of the Museum's Annie Baroque and Rococo periods made their way into the Museum
Laurie Aitken Galleries. A selection is included in this publication. during the late 1960s and early 1970s through the generosity of
One of the most distinguished is a beautiful mahogany china table Lilliana Teruzzi (1899-1987), a former opera singer. While living
in the style of Thomas Chippendale (no. 55). in Italy before World War II, she purchased such outstanding
In 1973 the news of an unexpected bequest reached the Museum. pieces of Roman furniture as a highly sculptural display case and
The gift included not only Impressionist and Postimpressionist a pair of striking fourteen-foot-high bookcases from the Palazzo
paintings and a choice group of German silver and porcelain Rospigliosi (nos. 15, 33). An Italian table reflecting the late-
pieces that would bring depth to an area already well represented eighteenth-century fashion for ancient Egyptian art (no. 70) was
in the Museum but also a splendid assemblage of Rococo furniture a gift of the investment banker and art collector Robert Lehman
from southern Germany and France. A warm regard for the (1892-1969) in 1941, the year he became a trustee of the
Metropolitan, fostered by furniture curator James Parker, had Metropolitan Museum. It was the only Lehman object to enter the
convinced Emma Alexander Sheafer (1891-1973), the widow of European decorative-arts department. The collection assembled
stockbroker Lesley G. Sheafer (d. 1956), to make this princely by Robert and his father, Philip Lehman, known for its strength in
gift. Although their initial interest had been in contemporary Italian Renaissance and early Northern Renaissance paintings,
American paintings and furniture, Mr. and Mrs. Sheafer shifted old master drawings, and works in majolica and Venetian glass,
their attention after World War II to French and German art.
They made purchases in Hamburg and Munich at a time when
the German decorative arts were generally not fashionable in
America. Mrs. Sheafer's bequest included a unique set of garden-
room seat furniture from Schloss Seehof near Bamberg (see no.
61). It had graced the Sheafers' apartment in Manhattan for many
years (see illustration on page 5, above).
Quite early in its history, the Museum bought some magnificent
Italian Renaissance pieces. One of them, a Florentine marriage
chest, or cassone, with a painted battle scene inset on the front,
was a particularly fortunate purchase in 1916 (no. 2). Dating to
the 1460s, it is one of a very few cassoni that have been preserved
with their painted decoration intact. Other notable Italian acquisi-
tions were, in 1930, a late-fifteenth-century sgabello chair and,
in 1958, a magnificent inlaid marble and pietre dure table (nos. 5,
7). A rare example of a practical form invested with humanistic The entrance hall of Judge Irwin Untermyer's apartment at 960 Fifth Avenue,
meaning, the former is illustrated in many books on furniture. New York, in 1974.
 The dining room in Mrs. Emma Sheafer's apartment
at 45 East Sixty-sixth Street, New York, in 1974.

was to be housed in a special wing at the Museum named for the Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt, one of the few surviving pieces of
donor that opened in 1975. furniture executed for Louis XIV (no. 17). More recent acquisitions
Old master paintings, Renaissance bronzes, porcelain figures that were made possible by Mrs. Wrightsman have not been
from various European manufactories, and furniture came in 1982 restricted to French works of art. They include a rare English
as a gift from Belle Linsky (d. 1987). She and her husband, Jack gilt-wood chandelier and an exquisite table made almost entirely
Linsky (1897-1980), who had developed a modest stationery busi- of Berlin porcelain (nos. 30, 96).
ness into a large and successful corporation, amassed their diverse
and exemplary collection largely in New York. Outstanding pieces
of French furniture—several by makers whose work was not yet
displayed in the Museum, such as a commode by the French
ébéniste Charles Cressent (no. 44) and a mechanical table ordered
from Jean-François Oeben by Madame de Pompadour (no. 60)—
further fleshed out the Museum's holdings of French art (see illus-
tration at right).
By far the most important donors to the Museum in the area
of French furniture and decorative arts have been Mr. and Mrs.
Wrightsman. The discerning taste, specialized interest, and unsur-
passed generosity of the oil executive Charles B. Wrightsman
(1895-1986) and his wife, Jayne, have made the Museum's collec-
tion of French furniture and furnishings world-renowned. Splendid
pieces, frequently with a royal association (see nos. 57, 84, 89),
are on view in the period rooms and permanent galleries that
fittingly bear the Wrightsmans' name (see illustration on page 6).
Many objects were gifts from their private collection, one of the
finest in the country, which they began to assemble in 1952.
Others were acquired with the Museum in mind and paid for by
the Wrightsman Fund. Widowed in 1986, Mrs.Wrightsman, who
is a trustee of the Museum and was for many years the chairman
of the Acquisitions Committee, has continued her support of and
interest in the institution, as the marvelous additions of the past
two decades illustrate. For instance, the installation in 1987 of a
state bedchamber—a room devoted to the arts of the French
Baroque—led to the purchase not only of an exquisite marquetry
The Jack and Belle Linsky salon at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984. The
table by Pierre Gole (no. 14) but also of a unique writing desk by Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982.

Despite rising prices and strong competition among institutions
worldwide for major pieces of furniture, the Museum has been
able to secure objects of exceptional beauty and historical interest
for its collections during the past two decades. The purchase in
1995 of a floral-marquetry cabinet on stand attributed to Jan van
Mekeren (no. 27), a welcome addition to the small group of Dutch
objects already in the Museum, reflects a departmental determina-
tion to expand in areas that are less well represented. In 2002 the
successful pursuit of a cut-steel center table made at the Tula
armory and formerly at Pavlosk Palace (no. 79), for instance,
brought the first piece of what is hoped will be a representative
collection of Russian furniture to the Museum. Efforts to improve
the nineteenth-century holdings, stimulated by the planning of the
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Galleries for nineteenth-century sculp-
ture and decorative arts, which opened in 1991, are gradually
beginning to pay dividends. Through gifts and purchases, several
important examples have enriched the department. One of the
most notable of these is an extraordinary Merovingian-style
armoire made by Charles-Guillaume Diehl, Emmanuel Frémiet,
and Jean Brandely (no. 101). Future acquisitions will undoubtedly
fill other gaps and further augment the superior collection of
European furniture that is among the glories of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
The Varengeville Room, from the Hôtel
Varengeville, 217, boulevard Saint-Germain,
Paris, part of the Wrightsman Galleries at
the Metropolitan Museum about 1995. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1963
(63.228.1).
ä^*^» n
Over the years, various curators and their colleagues in other
institutions have written about aspects of the furniture holdings in
the Museum's Bulletin and journal, in other periodicals, and in
exhibition catalogues, many of which are listed in the bibliography
of this book. Between 1958 and 1973 Yvonne Hackenbroch and
Sir Francis J. B. Watson compiled comprehensive multivolume cat-
alogues of the Untermyer and Wrightsman collections, respectively.
In 1964 the furniture donated to the Museum by the Samuel H.
Kress Foundation was published with the rest of the gift in a volume
written by James Parker, Edith Appleton Standen, and Carl Christian
Dauterman. And, celebrating the opening of the Linsky Galleries,
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, a catalogue of both the fine and the decorative arts, was
issued in 1984. Though these are all important scholarly works, they
are specialized. Given the importance of the European furniture
assembled at the Metropolitan, it is surprising that no publication
has yet been devoted to the collection as a whole or even to a
selection of some of the choicest objects. We are therefore pleased
to present this volume to the public and hope that the glorious
furnishings discussed and illustrated on its pages and in the
accompanying CD-ROM will receive the widespread recognition
that they deserve.
Highlights of the Collection
I.
Cupboard (credenza or armadio)
Italian (Florence or Siena), ca. 1450-80
Poplar wood and walnut inlaid with various
woods; iron locks, handles, and key
cm
H. 45'A in. (n s.6 cm), w. 86 in. (218.4
d. 2; in. (63.5 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1945
45-39
Like many of his contemporaries, the histo-
rian Benedetto Dei (1418-1492) admired the
illusionistic effects that the Florentine arti-
sans who specialized in wood inlay, or intar-
sia, were achieving. In his Memorie (1470) he
remarked that he had been in Florence at the
time when these craftsmen began making
"intarsia perspectives and figures in [such] a
way that they seemed [to be] painted." 1 By
this he meant that, like the Florentine painters,
they had learned to construct scenes, objects,
and three-dimensional patterns according to
the rules of perspective.
The intarsia cutters worked with a
"palette" of small pieces of wood of many
different types and colors, inserting and glu-
ing them into cutout hollows of a wooden
matrix, such as the walnut carcase of this
cupboard. The woods used for intarsia were
generally available locally from timber mer-
chants, or they might be supplied by the
patron—perhaps a wealthy individual who
had ordered a chest inlaid with scrolls in the
Moorish style, or a religious body or com-
munal institution that required doors, cabi-
nets, or choir stalls inlaid with pictorial
scenes. 1 Federigo da Montefeltro (1422-
1482), the duke of Urbino, had the walls of
his small study, or studiolo, at Gubbio cov-
ered entirely with intarsiated paneling,
which is today one of the glories of the
Metropolitan's collection.3
Several of the decorative motifs seen in
the intarsia of the Museum's cupboard are
executed in a form of inlay called tarsia a
toppo (see fig. 1). For this type of work the
craftsman would assemble hundreds of tiny
pieces of wood of different species and vari-
ous geometric shapes, glue them together to
form a solid block, and cut them into slices,
which he then inserted in geometric patterns
into a solid wooden matrix. 4 That the work
of manipulating the minute pieces required
)>
intense concentration and extraordinary
dexterity is evident when one looks below
the doors of this cupboard at the base,
whose pattern recalls water- or wind-
driven machinery or bridges. The perspec-
tival and mechanical studies of Leonardo
da Vinci, Piero della Francesca, and Fran-
cesco di Giorgio come inevitably to mind. 5
The equally intricate tarsia a toppo inlay
on the doors is in the abstract Moorish
interlace style, reflecting influence from the
Islamic world.
If the tarsia a toppo decoration on the
cupboard attests to the skill of the human
hand, the large, finely grained walnut panels
in the center of the doors may be said to
represent the simple beauty of natural mate-
rials. Like the slabs of alabaster on top of
the Farnese table (see the entry for no. 7)
they center and balance the whirl of orna-
ment around them.
Credenze (sideboards or cupboards) are
frequently mentioned in Italian inventories of
the fifteenth century, and there is pictorial evi-
dence that the form with two doors was fully
developed by this time.7 For example, a paint-
ing of 1482 by Filippino Lippi (ca. 1457-
1504) shows the Virgin Mary kneeling in a
contemporary bedroom setting beside a cup-
board much like the Museum's example. The
type developed from simple trestle tables that
were set against a wall and often covered with
sumptuous textiles.9 The undecorated top of
the Museum's cupboard may once have been
covered by an Arabian or Coptic carpet with
colorful interlace border designs like those
that are imitated in the door inlay.10 Such tex-
tiles would have made an appropriate back-
drop for the display of choice objects and fine
plate. A similar "credenza of cupboard form"
appears in a Venetian woodcut of 1517 show-
ing a room for dining and living." The doors
of the cupboard are ajar, suggesting that pre-
cious and practical objects like metal candle-
sticks or the large basin standing on top
could be stored within.
Rather than furnishing a domestic inte-
rior such as the two just mentioned, the
Museum's cupboard may have been made
for a church or monastery, where it would
have been used to secure embroidered vest-
ments or liturgical vessels. Neither the
wrought-iron handles on the doors nor the
design of the inlay nor any other detailing,
however, identify the piece as a "sacristy
cabinet," as it was classified when the
Museum acquired it.'" The ornamental
vocabulary of the intarsia cutters tended to
be much the same for ecclesiastical and sec-
ular furniture.
In whatever setting it found a place,
undoubtedly the cupboard's role was to
affirm the prestige of the owner through the
beauty of its craftsmanship and to protect
the contents committed to it from thievish
fingers. By good fortune, it is still accompa-
nied by a contemporary, finely crafted key
that fits the iron locks perfectly.CD WK
1. Quoted in Wilmering 1999, p. 3. See~also C. E. Gilbert
1988, pp. Z02-3.
2. Wilmering 1999, p. 3.
3. Ace. no. 39.153. On its acquisition by the Museum,
see Raggio r999, pp. 3-11.
4. Wilmering r999, p. 64; see also pp. 68-73.
5. Toni 1987; Raggio 1999, p. 125, fig. 5-82, p. 155,
fig. 5 - r 3 i .
6. Patterns similar to those in the toppo borders of the
Museum's cupboard doors appear on the paneling in
the sacristy of Santa Croce in Florence.
7. R Thornton r99r, pp. 205-29.
8. Filippino Lippi, Annunciation, Museo Civico, San
Gimignano; ibid., p. 182, pi. 200.
9. Frick Collection 2003, p. 470 (entry by Wolfram
Koeppe).
10. Gruber 1994, pp. 54-57, 70, n o ; and Paolini 2002,
pp. 70-72, no. 10, detail photograph on p. 71.
n . The term was used by Peter Thornton in a discussion
of the many forms and uses of these cabinets; see
P. Thornton 1991, p. 196 (the woodcut is illustrated
as pi. 220).
12. On "sacristy cabinets," see Massinelli 1993, pi. XV;
Paolini 2002, pp. 57-61, nos. 4, 5. See also a related
"sacristy" cabinet in the Detroit Institute of Arts
(ace. no. 35.60).
Fig. i. Detail of the geometric tarsia a toppo
inlay on the base of the cupboard.
Chest (cassone)
Italian (Florence), after 15 August 1461 and
possibly around the summer of 1465
Attributed to the workshop of Apollonio
Giovanni di Tomaso (ca. 1415/17-1465)
Marco del Buono di Marco (1403 ¡-148'-))
Poplar wood, linen, and polychromed and gilded
gesso; the front panel painted in tempera and
cm
H. 39'A in. (100.3 )> w- 77 m- (J95-6
d. 32VS in. (83.5 cm); front panel 15V4 x 49V1 in.
(38.-/ x 125.J cm)
John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1914
14.39
In his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters,
Sculptors, and Architects, published in 1550
and 1568, Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
devoted little space to the decorative arts.
He did, however, comment at some length
on the elaborately embellished marriage
chests called cassoni, which he said were
painted by some of the best artists of the
mid-fifteenth century: "The citizens of those
times used to have in their apartments great
wooden chests in the form of a sarcopha-
gus, with the corners shaped in various
fashions, and there were none that did not
have the said chests painted; and besides the
stories that were wrought on the front and
on the ends, they used to have the arms, or
rather, insignia of their houses painted on
the corners, and sometimes elsewhere. And
the stories that were wrought on the front
were for the most part fables taken from
Ovid and from other poets, or rather, stories
Fig. 2. Left side of the chest, decorated with the
impresa of Filippo Strozzi.
related by the Greek and Latin historians,
and likewise chases, jousts, tales of love,
di and other similar subjects, according to
and
each man's particular pleasure. Then the
inside was lined with cloth or with silk,
according to the rank and means of those
who had them made, for the better preser-
cm), vation of silk garments and other precious
things. . . . And for many years this fashion
was so much in use that even the most
excellent painters exercised themselves in
such labours, without being ashamed, as
many would be today, to paint and gild
such things."' Although there are indica-
tions that marriage chests were in use
throughout Italy, from the Trentino to
Calabria, many of the most outstanding
examples were likely made in Florence. 1
There, the decorative artists, and especially
the pittori di casse, the painters of chests,
formed a special subunit of the Florentine
Guild of Saint Luke, the association of
painters. What is more, the documentation
on painted cassoni is richest in Florence.
The workshop ledgers of Apollonio di
Giovanni di Tomaso and his partner, Marco
del Buono di Marco, who most probably
made the Metropolitan's cassone, are still
extant. Covering the years 1446 to 1463,
they indicate that the workshop was very
active; in the year 1452 alone it produced
twenty-three pairs of chests.3
Very few cassoni have survived intact;
Fig. 3. Back of the chest.
most have been stripped of their painted
panels, which today hang on the walls of
museums and private collections, consid-
ered works of art in their own right. 4 In this
respect, and in the subjects chosen for the
paintings on the front and sides, this chest is
exceptional. On the front is a panoramic
depiction of Trebizond (now Trabzon), a
Byzantine town on the Black Sea, on 15 Au-
gust 1461, the day when the Turkish sultan
Mehmed II (1430-1481) and his Ottoman
forces conquered this very last Christian
stronghold in the East.CD Trebizond is
shown at the right; in the background at the
left Constantinople, which Mehmed had
taken in 1453, can be identified by the dome
of its most famous building, the Hagia
Sophia, Church of the Holy Wisdom. The
events of that day and the important figures
and architectural landmarks are recorded in
a rather naive, compressed way, and some
are captioned,' possibly following a fictive
Turkish map of that period. Painted on
each side of the chest is a curled scroll
inscribed "M.E.Z.Z.E." on which is perched
a falcon (see fig. 2). These are.the imprese,
or devices, of Filippo Strozzi ( 1428-1491):
the falcon is a rebus of the family name
(strozziere means falcon); and the letters
refer to mezzelune (half moons or crescents,
three of which figure in the Strozzi arms). 1
The subject of the front panel had
great significance for the Strozzi family. The
Fig. 4. General view of the chest with the hinged
lid raised.
conquest of Trebizond resulted in the exclu-
sion of the Venetians from the eastern
Mediterranean. The Florentines took over
Venetian properties in Constantinople and
enlarged their own influence in the East,
stimulating the Tuscan economy. Filippo
and his brothers, who managed the family's
far-flung banking empire, were banished
between 1458 and 1466 from Florence but
maintained a strong interest in these events.
During his exile Filippo continuously
ordered furniture from Florence. Did he
intend to marry and decide to commission
this precious chest one or two years before
his anticipated return to his native city, in
order to be ready to flaunt his increased
power and wealth during the public mar-
riage procession?7 The fascination in Europe
at this time with turquerie—everything dec-
orative from the Ottoman Empire—was
suppressed in Italy by fear of the Muslims,
whose presence centuries earlier in Sicily
and whose piracy in the Mediterranean and
ferocious raids on the Italian coast were not
forgotten. But, as we have seen, the Strozzi
would have had personal reasons for choos-
ing a Turkish theme for this chest.
The top of the chest is covered with a
thick linen cloth that was dipped in wet
plaster; when dry, it formed a tableclothlike
arrangement, lapping down over the edge.
This top may originally have been colorfully
lacquered or painted to imitate a luxurious
fabric, and precious objects at other times
stored in the chest would have been dis-
Hip-joint armchair (sillón de cadera or jamuga)
Spanish (Granada), ca. 1480-1500
Walnut and elm, partly veneered and inlaid with
different woods, ivory, bone (camel?), and
pewter; covered in silk velvet not original to the
armchair
H. 36'Á in. (92.J cm), w. 24 in. (61 cm),
d. 19V2 in. (49.5 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1945
45.6o.4ia,b
played there on special occasions. Parts of
the interior and the back of the chest are
painted in the so-called pomegranate pat-
tern, most likely in imitation of contempo-
rary Italian textiles or imports from the
Ottoman world (see figs. 3, 4). The fruit of
the pomegranate tree {Punica granatum)
symbolized fertility and plenty, sensuous
love, and compassion and was also consid-
ered an aphrodisiac. What could be a more
perfect decoration for a marriage chest? 8
The distinguished scholar of Italian
Renaissance sculpture and influential direc-
tor of the Berlin museums Wilhelm von
Bode (1845-1929) once remarked, "Italian
furniture and interior decoration were col-
lected [in the late nineteenth century] with
the idea of providing an adequate frame-
work for Italian Renaissance paintings and
sculpture, of evoking, however superficially,
the contemporary life style, as reflected in
the houses and their furnishings."' During
Bode's era, cassoni were regarded as icons of
their period and appreciated immensely as a
fusion of painting, sculpture, and furniture
at a very high level of execution. Aestheti-
cally and historically, the Museum's cassone
is still considered one of the most outstand-
ing examples of its kind. 10 WK
I am most grateful to Princess Maria Angelica
dell'Drago, Dominico Savini, Don Gerolamo Strozzi,
and Michelangelo Lupo for discussing with me the
heraldry on the present chest.
1. Vasari 1996, vol. 1, p. 267.
This armchair consists of four S-shaped sup-
ports on two runnerlike stands. The disks
that join two of the supports at front and
two at back suggest that the chair can be
folded up like a pair of scissors. This is not
possible, however. The supports will collide
above the turning point, allowing only a
small degree of movement. This impractical
arrangement can easily be explained by the
2. Dal Prà 1993, pp. 382-83, no. 126 (entry by
Wolfram Koeppe); see also Miziolek 1996.
3. Syson and D. Thornton 2001, p. 70. On the work-
shop, see also Stechow 1944; and Gombrich 1985.
4. Syson and D. Thornton 2001, p. 70.
5. The inscriptions are as follows: 1. On the walls
of the city at left: "GO[N]STANTINOPOLI"
(Constantinople). 2. Within the walls of the city at
left, the names of two churches: "S FRA[N]CESCO"
(San Francesco); "i. SOFIA." (Hagia Sophia).
3. "DEILO.PER . . . ORI" (undeciphered). 4. On the
walls of the city at left center: "PERA." (Pera, now
Beyoglu, Galata). 5. On the Bosporus: "LOSTRET-
TO." (the strait). 6. On the walls of the city at cen-
ter: "LOSCUTARIO" (Scutari, now Üsküdar);
farther back: "CHASTEL NVOVO" (the new fort—
that is, Rumeli Hisari). 6. On the walls of the city at
right: "TREBIZOND[A]." 7. Next to the conqueror
(misidentified): "TAN[B]VRLANA" (Tamerlane).
The inscriptions identifying the strait, Trebizond, and
Tamerlane are recorded but no longer visible. See
Baetjer 1995, p. 17.
6. Only in late-nineteenth-century publications is the
falcon called the heraldic crest of the family's coat of
arms; see Rietstap 1884-87, vol. 2, p. 858; Scalini
1992; and Koeppe 1994b, pp. 28-29. The funeral
monument of Carlo Strozzi (died 1517}, formerly in
San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Naples, does display
the Strozzi arms with the falcon. Severely damaged
during World War II, the church was later pulled
down; see Litta 1818-83, vol. 6 (1839), pi. XXI; and
Strazzullo 1984. For more on the meaning of Filippo
Strozzi's imprese, see Nickel 1974; and Koeppe
1994b, pp. 28-29.
7. Shortly after his return to Florence in 1466, Strozzi
married Fiametta de Donato Adimari.
8. Reichet 1856; Heilmeyer 2001, p. 20 (I thank Mrs.
Lucrecia Obolensky Mali for this reference).
9. Quoted in Nützmann 2000, p. 11.
10. Schubring 1915, p. 283, nos. 283-85, pis. LXV-
LXVII; Zeri 1971, pp. 101-3; Baetjer 1995, p. 17;
Callmann 1999; Syson and D. Thornton 2001,
p. 71, fig- 5i-
chair's derivation. It descends from the sella
curulis, or curule chair, an ancient Roman
folding seat used by consuls and high officials.
In its elegant medieval interpretation, the
thronelike chair—by then called a faldisto-
rium—continued to symbolize secular power,
and as the customary seat of the higher
clergy, it also came to express the authority
of the church. 1 The folding mechanism was
T
3

Fig. 5. Detail of a hip-joint armchair, Spanish
( G r a n a d a ) , ca. 1 4 8 0 . T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m
of Art, N e w York, R o b e r t Lehman Collection,
1-975 ( I 9 7 5 - I - I 9 7 8 ) . A section of the inlay on
the front of the right arm s u p p o r t is missing,
and in the cavities behind it there are fragments
of p a r c h m e n t with Kufic letters on them. T h e
p a r c h m e n t w a s reused as s u p p o r t material
beneath the m a r q u e t r y before it was glued t o
the body of the chair.
eventually eliminated, and the place where
the joint had been was marked with an
ornamented disk.
By the late fifteenth century the seat and
back of the curule chair were usually cov-
ered with a luxurious textile or embossed
and stamped leather, and the frame was
ornately inlaid and carved. Contemporary
paintings suggest that the decoration on
some examples may have reached a surreal
level of exaggeration. The golden Throne of
Scipio, seen in a cassone painting of 1490-
1500 in the Courtauld Institute of Art
Gallery, London, is embellished with cornu-
copias and lions' paws. 1
The precious tarsia a toppo marquetry on
the frame of the Museum's chair consists of
tiny polygonal pieces of different colored
woods, bone, and metal arranged in geo-
metric patterns. 3 Some of the configura-
tions, such as a minute square made up of
nine even smaller squares, can be fully
appreciated only with the aid of a magnify-
ing instrument. 4 CD The "points" dependent
from the legs of the Museum's chair make
the crescents that they form resemble
Gothic ogee arches; however, the broken
14
curves are also reminiscent of the Moorish
arcades surrounding the Court of the Lions
in the Alhambra at Granada and of the
Moorish-Renaissance facade of the Palacio
de Jabalquinto in Baeza of about 1490. 5
The Spanish terms for the curule chair
are sillón de cadera (hip-joint chair) and
jamuga (saddle for a woman, or sidesaddle).'
As the chair type spread throughout Europe
and parts of Spanish America it acquired
many other names. In the mid-nineteenth
century, during the Renaissance Revival, it
was known as a Dante or Savonarola chair.
Possibly for this reason the present chair
and three related examples in the Museum
(see fig. 5) were mistakenly catalogued until
recently as sixteenth-century Italian furni-
ture. 7 Also evocative of Italy is the mar-
quetry, which resembles twelfth-century
Cosmati work as well as lavoro alla cer-
tosina, a type of wood inlay very popular,
especially in northern Italy, during the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries.' Nevertheless,
it should be remembered that both of these
inlay techniques reflect the influence of
Islamic woodwork.
The most convincing reason for attribut-
ing the present chair to a workshop in
Granada is the existence of a very similar
chair formerly in the collection of Paul
Almeida, Madrid. 10 The backrest, which
retains its original leather cover, is decorated
with an embossed Arabic inscription dedi-
cated to the last Muslim sovereign of
Granada, Muhammad XI, called Boabdil,
who reigned from 1482 until his abdication
after the battle of Lucena in 1492 (he died in
1538). It was therefore probably made before
the sultan was forced into exile, leaving his
beloved residence in Granada. The Alhambra
court workshop possibly created that chair
and all four of the Museum's hip-joint chairs.
An origin in Granada may be supported
by a fifteenth-century document that men-
tions a commission for three sillones de
cadera from Granada to be used in the
Cathedral of Toledo." (One of them is still
kept in the cathedral treasury.) The fact that
three chairs were ordered may indicate that
they were used during the Mass at high
church feasts, when two would have been
placed on either side of the third, the
bishop's elevated chair, which would have
been more elaborately upholstered and dec-
orated than those of his concélébrants.
Hip-joint chairs remained accoutrements
of the mighty throughout the 1500s, not
slipping out of fashion for at least another
century. Like Hispano-Moresque pottery,
they may have been exported from Spain to
Italy,' 1 stimulating the production of less
sophisticated inlaid chairs on the peninsula.
A noblewoman is seen seated in a handsome
example in a portrait now in the Metro-
politan. 13 An etching that illustrates the
abdication of control of the Netherlands by
Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) in Brussels
in 1555 (fig. 6) shows hip-joint armchairs, 14
as does a portrait of the powerful archbishop
of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489-
1556) ten years before he was burned at
the stake.' 5 A detailed list of property in the
1556 will of Sir John Gage of Firle Place in
Sussex includes five Spanish-made chairs
decorated with colored bone inlay."
The ritual function of the sillon de cadera
has remained alive in Spain until our own
times. The Spanish king Juan Carlos I
(b. 1938) and H. H. Shah Kerim Aga Khan
(b. 1936) were seated side by side on two
such inlaid throne-chairs on the occasion of
the Aga Khan Award ceremony at the Al-
hambra on 5 June 1990.' 7 WK
1. Wanscher 1980.
2. Morley 1999, p. 90, fig. 158.
3. On this type of intarsia decoration, see the entry
for no. 1 in this book and Wilmering 1999, p. 64,
fig. 2-4, and p. 72.
4. Identically fashioned squares decorate several other
chairs. This suggests, but does not prove, that all of
them originated in the same workshop. The squares
on one chair in the Lemmers-Danforth Sammlung,
Wetzlar, are illustrated close up in Koeppe 1992,
pp. 75-76, no. M8a, b.
5. See Junquera y Mato 1992, pp. 289, 279. For the
Hispano-Moresque style in furniture, see Ferrandis
Torres 1940.
6. Alonso Pedraz 1986; for the etymology, see the
excellent summary in Gontar 2003, n. 38. See also
Burr 1964, fig. 11; and Ciechanowiecki 1965, p. 62,
fig. 1 9 1 .
7. Two chairs were acquired in 1945 (the present exam-
ple and ace. no. 45.60.40a), and two entered the
Metropolitan with the Robert Lehman Collection
(ace. nos. 1975.1.1978,1979) in 1975. One example
with a leather cover (45.60.40a) was published in
Gontar 2003, fig. 27, as having been produced about
1500 in Granada, a date and location originally
proposed by the present author, on whose unpub-
lished research notes in the files of the Department
of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metro-
politan Museum, the Gontar attribution was based.
On the Spanish origin of these and other inlaid hip-
joint armchairs, see the comprehensive study in
Koeppe 1992, pp. 75-76, no. M8a, b, color ill.
p. 172. The two Lehman chairs will be discussed in
a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the furniture
in the Robert Lehman Collection by William Rieder
and Wolfram Koeppe.
 Ä \
%. s*
:•' jtZ&v/uyiÇ'. ' :. ; > K
:<
WJK~X.' X, N • x ^ H.
xv ;S\x \ ;¿

^sK
Fig. 6. The Abdication of Charles V in Brussels, 1555. Etching in Franz and A b r a h a m Hogenberg, Geschichtsblätter
(1570), ed. Fritz Hellwig, facsimile edition (Nördlingen, 1983).

8. One of the most prominent examples is the episcopal
throne in Santa Balbina in Rome; see Motley 1999,
p. 64, fig. 107.
9. An example is illustrated in ibid., p. 102, fig. 174,
and another is a chest in the Museum's collection
(ace. no. 07.97). A third is in the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam (ace. no. BK-16629).
10. Peter Dreyer brought this piece to my attention and
made its examination possible in 1991. Two related
chairs in the Lemmers-Danforth Sammlung, Wetzlar,
have the same provenance; Koeppe 199z, pp. 75-76,
no. M8a, b, color ill. p. 172.
11. Feduchi 1969, p. 75, n. 37.
12. T. Wilson 1989.
13. Ace. no. 32.100.66; see Baetjer 1995, p. 38. For a
portrait of Bianca Cappello, the second wife of
Francesco I de' Medici (r. 1574-87), by Alessandro
Allori (1535-1607), standing next to a hip-joint
chair with different inlay patterns, see Langedijk
1981-87, vol. 1, pp. 317, 319, no. 11, fig. 12, 11.
14. Castelnuovo 1990, p. 13, fig. 1.
15. Wells-Cole 1997, p. 37.
16. Beard 1997, p. 28. I thank Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide
for bringing this to my attention.
17. Connaissance des arts, no. 475 (September 1991), p. 7.
I am most grateful to H.S.H. the late Princess Margarete
of Isenburg-Birstein for steering my thoughts toward
a possible Spanish origin for the chair type and for
mentioning in 1985 the existence of several such
armchairs at the Museo Arqueológico, Granada.

15
Chest (cassone)
Italian (Florence or Lucca), ca. 1480-95
Poplar wood; painted and gilded gesso
cm
H. 38'Á in. (97.8 cm), w. 80V1 in. (204.5
z
d. 32 /i in. (82.6 cm)
Rogers Fund 1916
16.155
Italian inventories and descriptions of
Renaissance-period households document
the importance of great chests in the main
bedchamber, or camera. This room was the
center of an upper-class woman's existence,
as she was encouraged to live mostly indoors
and to avoid lingering at open windows or
in the semipublic courtyard of the family
house. 1 In this chamber she would proudly
display the cradle she had been given on her
marriage (see fig. 10) and also wedding chests,
or cassone, containing her trousseau. 1
The finest fifteenth-century cassoni were
decorated with panel paintings or with
intarsia inlay (see the entries for nos. 1, 2.)
or, like the example discussed here, with
scenes in pastiglia, a variety of gesso relief
applied in layers and painted or gilded.
Later, in the sixteenth century, many were
embellished with relief carving, usually in
walnut (see no. 6). Hunts and jousts were
sometimes shown on these chests, but the
most popular subjects were mythological
tales of love and fertility. Their immodesty
fired the reformer Girolamo Savonarola
(1452.-1498) to exhort the Florentines to
choose more uplifting themes—from the
lives of the saints, for example.' But the cas-
soni workshops produced what was in
demand, and romantic tales of the loves of
the gods continued to sell.
The subject on the front of this cassone is
taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses.* The
distraught earth goddess Ceres is seen riding
in her dragon-yoked chariot, her torch kin-
dled from the fires of Mount Etna, through
16
a fairy-tale forest inhabited by satyrs, in
search of her abducted daughter, Proser-
)>
pina.CD In her distress, Ceres has allowed the
crops to fail, leaving humankind to starve.
According to Paul Schubring, the Mu-
seum's chest had a companion piece, now
lost but formerly in the collection of the
Palazzo Guinigi in Lucca. s The relief on the
front of that cassone illustrated the begin-
ning of the story, in which Pluto, god of the
underworld, carries off Proserpina as she is
picking flowers with her companions, the
daughters of Oceanus. The extremely faint,
hitherto unidentified coat of arms held by a
sphinx on the right end of the Museum's
cassone would seem to be that of a lady who
married a member of the Guinigi family;
however, no documentary evidence exists to
prove that the Museum's example came
from the Palazzo Guinigi. It was acquired
from the collection of Elia Volpi (1858-
1938), a Florentine dealer and collector with
close ties to many noble Italian families.
The figurai scene on the Museum's cas-
sone is exceptional in the depth of the relief,
which is achieved in the fragile medium of
matrix-molded gesso. 7 It is probable that
the workshop was experimenting with the
technique in order to speed up production.
In the fifteenth century, little time elapsed
between a betrothal and the wedding, and
workshops often had to rush to fill orders
for cassoni on schedule.
The shape of this chest and the relief dec-
oration on the front reflect the influence of
ancient Greek and Roman sarcophagi. A
well-known model for a front panel with a
continuing narrative was The Miracle of the
Strozzi Boy on Lorenzo Ghiberti's famous
bronze Shrine of Saint Zenobius, executed
for the Duomo in Florence between 1432
and 144 z. The style of the Museum's cas-
sone relief, however, reflects the classicizing
trend in Florentine sculpture and painting of
the late fifteenth century. The pastoral mood
of the Ceres panel is perhaps closest to that
of the early paintings of Piero di Cosimo
(1461/62-1521?), especially The Return
from the Hunt and Hunting Scene, both now
also in the Metropolitan Museum. 9
Very closely related to this chest is a pair
of cassoni in the Philadelphia Museum of
Art decorated with the same subjects as the
present piece and its lost companion (see
fig. 7). 10 Several similar but less elaborate
chests, and also several similar front panels
cut from cassoni, have been identified in var-
ious private and public collections.11 WK
1. Contemporary literature, however, suggests that
occasionally a lady might break the rules and tryst
with a lover in her bedchamber. In Giovanni
Boccaccio's Decameron (8.8) a gentlewoman named
Fiammetta tells a tale of cuckoldry in which a large
cassone is at the heart of the mischief; see Boccaccio
1982, pp. 614-19.
2. Syson and D. Thornton 2001, p. 71.
3. Philadelphia Museum of Art 1995, p. 115 (entry by
Dean Walker).
4. Metamorphoses, bk. 5,11. 385-424.
5. Schubring 1923, p. 235, nos. 75, 76, pi. XI. The
arms of the Guinigi family were painted on the
shields held by carved sphinxlike creatures at the
corners of the lost cassone.
6. Catalogue of the Elia Volpi collection sale, American
Art Association, New York, 21-27 November 1916,
nos. 439, 440.
7. Pommeranz 1995, pp. 5-17; and Bassett and
Fogelman 1997, pp. 40, 63.
8. For a Hellenistic example of about 300 B.c., see
Morley 1999, p. 107, fig. 185; for an ancient sculp-
ture on the theme of The Rape of Proserpina, see
Bober and Rubinstein 1987, p. 57.
9. Ace. nos. 75.7.1, 2. See Baetjer 1995, p. 32.
10. Schubring 1923, p. 235, no. 75; and Philadelphia
Museum of Art 1995, pp. 114-15 (entry by Dean
Walker).
11. See Odom 1966, p. 99 and figs. 49, 50; Italian
Cassoni 1983, nos. 33-37; and Massinelli 1993,
pi. XIV.
Fig. 7. Chest, Italian (Tuscany),
late fifteenth century. Wood with
painted and gilded gesso decora-
tion, 36% x 47'/8 x 2.83/8 in.
Philadelphia Museum of Art,
Purchased with the Joseph E.
Temple Fund (1944-15-6). The
subject shown on the long panel
is Pluto Abducting Proserpina.

17
Chair (sgabello a tre gambe)
Italian (Florence), ca. 1489-91
Attributed to the workshop of Giuliano da
Maiano (1432-1490) and Benedetto da Maiano
(1442-1497)
Walnut, maple, ebony, ebonized wood, and fruit-
wood; traces of gilding and paint
H. 58 in. (147.3 cm)> w- I(>J4 in. (42.5 cm),
d. 16'A in. (41.9 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1930
30.93.2
The Strozzi chair is one of the best-known
and most often published pieces of seating
furniture in the world. 1 Shortly after 1900,
in a period when Italian Renaissance furni-
ture was as highly prized as old-master
paintings, Hans Stegmann called it a
"unicum known the world over. . . a master-
work of charming beauty, one of the most
beautiful Florentine pieces of furniture
18
around." 2 Given its celebrity, it is astonish-
ing that the most recent publications on the
chair rely on information in the 1930 cata-
logue of the collection of the Viennese
banker Albert Figdor, who acquired it in the
1870s from Prince Strozzi in Florence, and
ignore later investigations.'
The form of the sgabello derives from a
low stool with three legs {a tre gambe)
mounted at an angle, a very simple type of
seat that had been popular since ancient
times.4 By adding an elongated backrest, the
designer demonstrated unusual sensitivity to
shape and ornament and a degree of subtlety
that is rarely found in furniture. The decora-
tion on the back, sides of the seat, and feet
consists of delicately carved elements and a
small line of geometric inlay.CD The latter is
consciously contrasted with the dramatic
veining of the walnut wood. The elegant
concept and the attention given to minute
details indicate that this was a very special
commission for all the artisans involved.
The backrest seems comparable in sil-
houette to a peacock's feather. A plain cen-
ter panel supports the tondo on top, in the
"eye" of which the Strozzi coat of arms
with three crescent moons (arme delle tre
lune) and lavish acanthus decoration stand
out against a punched background (fig. 8).
Crowning this is the image of a molting fal-
con. In the background, feathers cascade
down in a circular movement from the
spread wings of the bird.
The three crescents within a shield can be
seen again on the reverse of the tondo, in
front of a fluted sun motif.CD The encircling
band consists of four rosettes at the cardinal
Fig. 8. Front of the tondo at the top of the chair
back.
Fig. 9. Medal of Filippo Strozzi (reverse), attrib-
uted to Niccolò Fiorentino, 1488-89. Cast
bronze, diam. 3V2 in. National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. (1957.14.880).
19
points connected by feathered scales
arranged in divergent directions. The whole
tondo—front and back—is framed by a
wreath of crescent moons, another allusion
to the house of Strozzi.s Following Wilhelm
von Bode, Frida Schottmüller remarked that
the reverse of a medal made for Filippo di
Matteo di Simone Strozzi (1428-1491), in
the "manner of Niccolò Fiorentino," was
used as the model for the front of the tondo
(fig. 9). Other early writers ascribed the
medal as well as the design of the sgabello to
the workshop of Giuliano and Benedetto da
Maiano. Both brothers were regularly
employed by Strozzi.7 Documents show that
in 1467 Filippo Strozzi ordered from
Giuliano da Maiano a richly inlaid cassone
for himself, as well as a lettuccio, or bench.
The medal, which has now convincingly
been attributed to Niccolò Fiorentino
(1430-1514), was probably commissioned
for the cornerstone ceremony at the Strozzi
Palace, on 6 August 1489. 9 It exists in mul-
tiple copies and could easily have been
examined by other artisans. 10
As a conspicuous display object, embel-
lished on all sides and intended to be free-
standing, the sgabello should be interpreted
in the context of the Strozzi Palace. With
the crescent moon as a connecting element,
it fits seamlessly into the decoration of the
building. The moon motif can be found not
only in the biforium windows of the facade
and the famous large iron lanterns but also
in the interior, in the supporting brackets,
fireplace frames, and furniture panels.
While it might be too much to say that the
presence of such motifs characterizes a
"decorative program," the heraldic sickle
moons displayed for everyone to see are an
inseparable part of a totality, of a propa-
ganda project to enhance the grandeur of
the aristocratic owner, Filippo Strozzi (see
the entry for no. 2). 11
The falcon, Filippo's personal emblem,
or impresa, on the tondo also functions as a
rebus: the Italian word for falconer is
strozziere. A molting falcon has always been
a metaphor for renewal. But what is meant
here is not that all the feathers will be shed
and replaced, as is the case with ducks, for
instance, which become incapable of flying
for several weeks and fall easy prey to carni-
vores. The spread, flawless wings of the
swift falcon prove that its plumage renews
itself only partially and that the bird always
remains capable of defending itself and of
attacking potential enemies. The falcon of
Filippo's impresa thus signifies a prepared
readiness in the face of trial, a potential for
renewal and for overcoming adversity.
The similarity between the tondo and the
medal not only proves that both must be
directly linked to Filippo Strozzi as patron
but also gives a clue to the date of the chair:
the execution of the commission must have
taken place between 1489, when the medal
was struck and work on the palace begun,
and 15 May 1491, the day of Strozzi's
death. Any time after that is highly unlikely,
since Strozzi's successor would almost cer-
tainly have chosen a different decoration,
fashioned to represent himself.
A calculated choice, probably, and if so a
stroke of genius, are the three legs, which
will correct the chair's position on uneven
ground; they form a firm base for the tondo,
underlining the strength, sturdiness, and
discipline of the owner, who never gives up
hope and steadfastly supports his family
and friends. These virtues had characterized
Filippo during his exile from Florence
between 1458 and 1 4 6 6 . "
The intellectual ferment in fifteenth-
century Florence undoubtedly played a role
in the chair's conception. In his treatise De
Re Aedificatoria (On the Art of Building)
Leonbattista Alberti (1404-1472) put for-.
ward the revolutionary idea that different
types of buildings should be designed to
reflect the requirements of those who live
and work in them. As Martin Kemp has
pointed out, some of Alberti's immediate
successors went still further, maintaining
that every aspect of architecture, "from the
design of a capital at the top of a column to
the overall plan of a city was to be governed
by a rigorously proportional geometry." 1 '
These ideas could easily be extended to
apply to a palace and its furnishings. Another
intriguing reflection in the Strozzi chair of
the passionate interest among the Florentine
intellectuals in the ordering of space is the
fact that the octagonal seat reflects the floor
plan of the Florentine Baptistery, even to the
high altar's niche. That protruding space is
filled in the chair by the elongated back,
which supports Filippo Strozzi's impresa.1*
The Baptistery was the building that Filippo
Brunelleschi (i377?-i446), who had revolu-
tionized painting by working out a method
for accurately reproducing the third dimension
on a flat surface, used as the subject of his
famous perspectival projections. 1 ' The ideas
of Alberti and Brunelleschi flowed through
the Florentine artistic community as the
money of the Medici bank flowed through
politics. No innovative artist could help but
respond to this creative climate.
The sgabello is not a marvel of comfort,
but it was not intended to be. A display
piece, it represents a rare combination of a
practical medieval form and a humanistic
Renaissance design. Certainly it is one of
the most unusual pieces of furniture ever
made, one in which meaning and beauty
mingle in unrivaled harmony. 1 WK
1. This entry is based on Koeppe 1994b.
2. Stegmann 1909.
3. Die Sammlung Dr. Albert Figdor 1930, pt. 1, vol. 2,
no. 657. The latest publication is Paolini 2002,
pp. 68-70, no. 9. The author of that work mentions
several times in error that two chairs of this design
are in the Metropolitan Museum's collection.
4. Ancient tripod tables that have survived suggest that
there may have been matching chairs, like the "fold-
ing" silver tripod from the Hildesheim Treasure; see
Liversidge 1965, p. 17, fig. 32. Many tripod chairs
appear in medieval illustrations; see Ash 1965, p. 26,
fig. 55, and Morley 1999, p. 90, fig. 158.
5. In 1995 the Strozzi chair was superbly restored by
Marijn Manuels, Associate Conservator, Department
of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum. He
replaced missing pieces, including several crescents,
around the tondo. See the conservation report in the
archives of the Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects
Conservation, Metropolitan Museum.
6. Schottmüller 1921, p. XXVII; see also Strozzi 1851;
and Sale 1979, pp. 7-99.
7. Pedrini 1948, p. 55.
8. Sale 1979, p. 12.
9. Scher 1994, p. 135, no. 44.
10. Hill 1930, no. 1018.
11. On the Strozzi arms, see Nickel 1974; and Seelig
2002, pp. 59-65.
12. Sale 1979, pp. 9-14.
13. Kemp 1992, p. 99.
14. Paolucci 1994, vol. 2, pp. 29, 205.
15. Kemp 1992, p. 98, fig. 4.
16. The chair is unique; several existing interpretations
of the form are of a much later date. Two similar
examples formerly in the Mannheimer collection and
now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, are simplified
nineteenth-century versions. I am most grateful to
Reinier Baarsen for examining them with me in
1998 and for giving me the opportunity to study
related material in the Rijksmuseum files. Two other
examples, in the Lemmers-Danforth Sammlung,
Wetzlar, must also be dated to the nineteenth century,
although I described them in 1992 as "Florence,
circa 1490"; see Koeppe 1992, pp. 74-75, no. M7a, b,
color ill. p. 169, where some further examples are
also mentioned. Two chairs in the Museo della
Fondazione Home, Florence, are closely related to
the Lemmers-Danforth pieces, but I have not yet
been able to examine them personally there; see
Paolini 2002, pp. 68-70, no. 9.
6.
Chest
Italian (Rome), ca. 1550-60
Walnut, carved and partially gilded
H. 34 in. (86.4 cm), w. 71% in. (181.9 cm)>
d. 26'A in. (67.3 cm)
Gift of Stanley Mortimer, 1954
54.161
Sumptuously ornamented chests called cas-
soni or forzieri played an important role in
the wedding rituals of Renaissance Italy.1
Between the thirteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies, a woman's right to inherit from her
parents and her husband diminished as soci-
ety became more patriarchal. Accordingly,
the dowry—the financial allotment she was
given by her family on her marriage—
increased in importance. In theory it was
hers, but in reality the dowry was adminis-
tered by her husband, who assumed respon-
sibility to increase its value. Before the
wedding, one or two pairs of chests were
ordered and delivered to the bride's house,
where they were filled with her marriage
portion.2' If, as was often the case, the bride
was escorted in a formal procession from
her parents' house to the bridegroom's resi-
dence, the cassoni were carried along as tes-
timony to the wealth of the two families and
the bond between them. When ordered in
pairs, the chests could be decorated with the
coats of arms of both houses. At princely
weddings, the dowry might fill many cassoni
of different sizes and styles of decoration.
The bridal procession of Isabella d'Esté
(1474-1539) from Ferrara to Mantua in
1490 included no fewer than thirteen chests,
which the Ferrarese court artist Ercole de'
Roberti (ca. 1450-1496) had painted and also
decorated with gold purchased in Venice.
Roman cassoni of the second half of the
sixteenth century are characterized by skill-
fully executed relief carvings that either
illustrate narratives, often after ancient
Roman writers, or are lavishly ornamental.
The latter is the case with the Museum's
chest and its pair.' The two pieces differ
only in a few details and slightly in their
degree of preservation. In former times they
could probably have been distinguished by
the coats of arms painted on the front in the
strapwork cartouches, but none of the poly-
chrome decoration has survived. All the
raised parts were once gilded, and this deco-
ration has been partly preserved, albeit with
much retouching. In both examples the lay-
ered plateaux of the lid are replacements.
The quality and the imaginative design
of the carving are outstanding, clearly the
work of a talented artist. Thus, the acanthus
volutes in the frieze below the lid have been
designed as three-dimensional handles, and
the arms of the two satyrs are fully rounded,
crowning the cartouches.CD The corner joints
of the chest have been ingeniously concealed
by winged caryatids seated on dolphins,
each holding a grotesque mask between her
lions' feet.CD The sarcophagus shape of the
carcase, the classical meander band on the
base, and the turbulent acanthus foliage
reveal the designer's study of antique Roman
monuments. 4 The intricately twisted satyr fig-
ures with asses' ears and angels' wings, whose
goats' feet end in acanthus spirals, reflect
21

Fig. 10. Design for Five Chests and a Cradle, Italian (Rome), third quarter of the sixteenth century. Pen
d r a w i n g . Private collection.
prior knowledge of Michelangelo's inven-
tions. The corner caryatids that emphasize
the swelling body of the chest5 recall the cre-
ations of Bartolommeo Ammanati ( 1 5 1 1 -
1592), especially his fountain designs for
the Villa Giulia, in Rome. The vigorous
shapes of the acanthus tendrils with opening
blossoms, from which the torsos of stallions
energetically protrude, the rinceaux relief,
and the crisply carved details evoke the
designs of Perino del Vaga (1501-1547),
thereby documenting the influence of Ra-
phael's Logge for Pope Leo X at the Vatican
on the artistic generation that followed;6
however, the extreme Mannerist exaggera-
tion of the composition's dynamics and the
style of the figures are clear indication that
the chest was created in Rome between 1550
and 1560. 7
The delicately modeled snouts of the dol-
phins at the corners of the base, many of
which are damaged, show that such chests
needed a platform, such as the modern ones
on which this pair rest today. Drawings and
contemporary interior views prove the exis-
tence of pedestals in Renaissance times. An
incredibly rare survival is a late-sixteenth-
century drawing (fig. 10) showing five alter-
native forms of chests, four of which are
standing on differently molded bases,
accompanied by an equally grand embel-
lished cradle. Cradles were frequently given
to a couple as a meaningful wedding gift,
less often at the birth of their first child. The
drawing was very likely part of a designer's
model book, which he would show to a
client as an indication of the variety of
objects his workshop was able to create. 8
The dolphin was associated with the sea
god in classical times and became a symbol
of long life. The creature is also shown as a
companion of Venus ( Venus marina), and as
such is symbolic of love. As the companion
of the seafaring Dionysus, the classical god
of erotic ecstasy, this intelligent animal
guaranteed safe travel. Given these attrib-
utes, what would be more fitting than to
send a bride's dowry to her bridegroom in a
pair of cassoni supported on the backs of
dolphins? Bridal chests continued to be made
in the seventeenth and early eighteenth cen-
turies. 9 The Sèvres-porcelain-mounted jewel
coffers on stand, of which Marie Antoinette
received an example in 1770, the year of her
marriage, is a playful development of this
type of furniture at the end of the ancien
régime in France (see the entry for no. 67).
WK
1. The text of this entry is adapted from Koeppe 1994b;
see also Koeppe 1995, p. 15.
2. P. Thornton 1991, p. 353, pi. 377; and Miziorek
1996, pi. 3.
3. The accession number of the pair to this chest is
55-I97-
4. Similarly inspired by the decoration on classical
Roman monuments is the Farnese table (see the entry
for no. 7); for another sarcophagus-shaped chest
with acanthus decoration, see Morley 1999, p. 107,
fig. 184.
5. For a similar example, see ibid., p. 107, fig. 187.
6. On acanthus rinceaux, see Reinhardt 1996, pp. 97,
104. On Raphael's Logge decorations, see Fagiolo
dell'Arco 1983, p. 261. On Perino del Vaga, see
Dictionary of Art 1996, vol. 24, pp. 419-20 (entry
by Richard Harprath).
7. A comparably dramatic corner design with caryatids
of somewhat lesser quality characterizes a cassone in
the Manchester City Art Galleries (Manchester City
Art Gallery 1983, p. 52, no. 35), and a cassone with
similarly lush acanthus foliage can be seen in the
Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Reinhardt 1996,
p. 101).
8. Related chests are illustrated in a drawing in a pri-
vate New York collection (Callman 1980, p. 35,
no. 29) and in another in the Lodewijk Houthakker
collection (Fuhring 1989, vol. 1, p. 334, no. 510).
3. Bremer-David 1993, p. 3, no. 4.
7-
Table
Italian (Rome), ca. 1568-73
Designed by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola
(1507-1573); the marble piers carved by
Guglielmo della Porta (d. 1577) and by the
Farnese Palace workshop under his supervision;
the pietre dure top attributed to Giovanni
Mynardo (Jean Ménard; ca. 1525-1582)
Marbles of different colors, semiprecious stones,
Egyptian alabaster; residue of paint of different
colors on the piers
H. 3 ft. i'/i in. (95.3 cm), w. 12 ft. 4% in.
(379.1 cm), d. 5 ft. 6V4 in. (168.3 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1958
58.57 a-d
The Farnese table, one of the most beautiful
and evocative pieces of Renaissance furni-
ture in existence, was acquired by the
Museum in 1958. Two years later, curator
Olga Raggio presented it as a "rediscovered
work by Vignola" in a magisterial article
that has remained a model for subsequent
studies in the history of furniture. 1
In its form—a marble top supported on
three marble piers—the table reflects ancient
Roman prototypes, such as are depicted in
ancient frescoes.2 Each pier is carved in the
center of each side with a grotesque torso
and a coat of arms and on each end with a
sphinx emerging from foliage. The top is a
slab of white marble sumptuously inlaid in
ancient Roman style with many different
colored marbles and with semiprecious
stones called pietre dure. So rich is the inlay
that the white marble matrix is visible only
in the lines that surround various borders
and the larger geometric figures, which
include medallions, cartouches, rectangles,
and ovals. In the center of the slab, enclosed
within black slate borders decorated with
pietre dure rosettes and stylized lilies, are
two panels of Egyptian alabaster.3
The coats of arms on the piers are embel-
lished with six lilies carved on oval panels
surmounted by a cross and a galero, or car-
dinal's hat.CD Lilies appear again on the
tabletop (fig. 11), not only in the narrow
pietre dure borders but also in the wide bor-
der of noble rosso antico marble, where they
are bracketed by pairs of stylized peltae, or
ancient Roman shields, which "protect"
them, as important dignitaries would be
guarded by armed foot soldiers. The lilies, ro-
settes, cross, and hat all refer to Alessandro
Farnese (i520-1589), "the Great Cardinal,"
a man of enormous wealth and an enthusi-
astic patron of the arts. 4 He envisioned the
precious table as a focal point in the state
rooms of the Farnese Palace in Rome, which
was under construction during the sixteenth
century. This magnificent building housed
not only a large collection of Renaissance
and Mannerist paintings commissioned or
acquired by Alessandro and other members
of his family—portraits by Titian (ca. 1487-
1576), frescoes by Annibale Carracci (1560-
1609), Francesco Salviati (1510-1553), and
Daniele da Volterra (1509-15 66)'—but also
wonderful works of antique sculpture, such
as the Earnese Hercules, the Urania, the Flora,
and the Earnese Bull. Originally placed in the
main hall of the palace, where it would have
harmonized with both the contemporary and
the ancient works of art that filled the room, 5
Fig. I I . Inlaid top of the table.
the Farnese table was later installed in the
Philosophers' Hall, an elaborately furnished
room next to the Carracci Gallery, on the
Tiber side of the palace. It is described as
being in that room in all the seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century Roman guidebooks
that mention the treasures of the palace.
The German poet Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749-1832) probably saw it there
on his visit to Rome in the spring of 1787,
although by then, in one of the largest art
transfers in history, many of the paintings
and sculptures had been removed to Naples
by King Charles III of Spain (1716-1788),
who had inherited the palace from his
Farnese mother. Goethe said wryly, "If they
could take also the Carracci Gallery, they
would do it." 7
An inventory of the Farnese Palace com-
piled in 1653 indicates what a high value
was placed on the table. In the absence of
the owner of the house, the "large table
of hard and soft stones, the center being of
Oriental alabaster, supported by three mar-
2-4
ble feet in the shape of harpies with the
arms of the Lord Cardinal" was protected
"in a wooden box [with] a chain that loops
to close it and in the middle a small mattress
full of wool, covered with a quilted check-
ered cloth." There was also "a cover for this
table, made of tooled and gilded leather
with four fringes, decorated borders, and
fleur-de-lys." It is as though the table—
which is so heavy that even with the aid of a
modern lifting device it can only be moved by
a dozen men—was regarded as an objet de
vertu, some precious gold or rock-crystal bi-
belot that could easily be packed up in a beau-
tiful leather case and travel with its owner.9
The Farnese table and especially its top
were created after the designs of Jacopo
Barozzi da Vignola, who began working at
the palace shortly before 1547 under the
supervision of Michelangelo (he became the
cardinal's chief architect about 1550). 10
Since Alessandro adopted the coat of arms
carved on the table legs only in 1566,
Vignola's design must date from or after
that year. Inventories of the Farnese Palace
made in 1566 and 1568 include references
to other inlaid tables—two of alabaster, two
of porphyry, and one set with many differ-
ent types of stone. 11 It is thus probable that
the Museum's table was under construction
in the late 1560s—certainly by 1573, when
Vignola died.
Vignola's design masterfully contrasts
the piers, whose vigorous modeling creates
wonderful effects of light and shadow, with
the flat, reflective, and richly colored top. Its
ornamental details, such as the winged
sphinxes and heraldic symbols, convey the
idea of majesty and magnificence that
would have been important to Cardinal
Alessandro. A recent examination of the
piers has disclosed slight residues of paint in
small areas under the profiles supporting the
top. This astonishing discovery may change
the current estimation of the table, for if the
piers were originally painted, then the over-
all appearance of the piece must have been
quite different.12
 brought to Italy in ancient times. They are
of especial beauty, "the climax," as Raggio
observes, "of the whole composition. Large,
pure, and quiet, they fulfill the promise of
their sumptuous frame. Their hard onyxlike
translucent surface, marked by wavy, irreg-
ular amberj-colored] veins and elusive whitish
formations, has the mysterious attraction of
light clouds traveling through a misty sky, or
of the frozen ripples of bottomless waters." 16
At the time the table was under construc-
tion, the sculptor Guglielmo della Porta was
in charge of the palace workshop where
ancient sculptures were restored and exca-
vated stone was reshaped into furnishings
for the rooms. Close inspection reveals that
the piers were carved by more than one per-
son. This is to be expected, for it reflects
workshop practice: as master in charge,
Delia Porta supervised the workmen who
transformed Vignola's designs into stone,
carved major elements himself, and added
the final touches. In creating these furnish-
ings Delia Porta and his masons were emu-
lating ancient artists—not imitating them
(imitatio) but attempting to surpass them
(superatio).17 The pietre dure and classical
such a table is depicted, see Morley 1999, p. 30,
fig. 36. This fresco from the House of the Vettii in
Pompeii had not been excavated at Vignola's time;
however, similar illustrations of classical tables may
have been accessible to him.
Dolci 2003, p. 109, fig. 2.
Robertson 1986; and Jestaz 1995, p. 54.
Robertson 1986.
Ginzburg Carignani 2000.
Quoted in Raggio i960, p. 213.
Quoted in ibid., p. 215.
See Syndram and Schemer 2004, p. 263, no. 141
(entry by Jutta Kappel).
On Vignola's work at the Farnese Palace, see Raggio
i960, pp. 223-25. See also Morley 1999, pp. 107,
fig. 189 (the present table), 108-9, ng. 192 (the
Guicciardini table designed by Vignola and made in
wood by Fra Damiano da Bergamo).
See Jestaz 1995, P- 55-
I am most grateful to Jack Soultanian Jr., Conser-
vator, Department of Objects Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum, for having confirmed and
further investigated this observation, which was
made when the table was moved in 2002.
13 See Guidobaldi 2003, p. 47, fig. 53. For similar
shield-shaped forms {peltae), see Guidobaldi 2003,
p. 64, fig. 78. See also the sixth-century pattern
illustrated in the same essay, p. 70, fig. 93, which
is similar to the border design of the present table.
Di Castro, Peccolo, and Gazzaniga 1994, fig. 23.
Quoted in Raggio i960, p. 219.
Ibid., p. 218.
Koeppe 1989a, p. 37; see also Irmscher 1988,
p. 3067.

Many of Vignola's favorite decorative
motifs appear on the tabletop, for example,
the confronted peltae and the broken rectan-
gles enclosing the Farnese lilies. He may
have discovered them in the patterns of
ancient Roman floors, such as the one in the
Curia of Diocletian in Rome." Other ancient
works with peltae ornaments are to be
found at Ostia, the port of ancient Rome,' 4
where in 1547, shortly after Vignola began
to work for Cardinal Alessandro, the archi-
tects went "to get colored marbles for the
Palace."' 5 All the stones used for the table
are of ancient origin, and many of them
were taken from the Baths of Caracalla,
where excavations were begun in the 1540s
under the supervision of the cardinal. For
him and for his architects and stonemasons
they represented the opulence of imperial
Rome, the capital of a vanished empire, and
their reuse must have seemed to be physical
proof that Rome was indeed the Eternal
City. The two alabaster panels were proba-
bly stripped from Egyptian monuments and
inlay are believed to have been done by a Ronfort 1991-92, p. 139; and Raggio 1994, p. 8.
Raggio i960, p. 215.
little-known French master named Jean
Ménard, called in Italy Giovanni Mynardo,
who was considered one of the finest crafts-
men in stone intarsia and mosaic decoration
working in Rome during the 1560s.'
The Farnese table is listed in an inven-
tory of the palace made in 1796 but not in
one of 1834. The next record of the table's
existence is in a fire-insurance document
drawn up shortly after 1844 f° r Hamilton
Palace in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.' 9 We
may suppose that, like many other Italian
antiquities, the treasured table of the Farnese
family was acquired by some English or
Scottish grandee while on a tour of Italy. In
1919 it was sold at auction from Hamilton
Palace to Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925)
for his London collection. Forty years later,
in 1958, the monumental table, created to
affirm the Great Cardinal's status, erudition,
and taste, was transported across the
Atlantic to be admired again, as one of the
jewels of the Metropolitan Museum's ency-
clopedic collection. WK
1. Raggio i960.
2. For a pier from a prototypical Roman table, see
Morley 1999, p. 24, fig. 24. For a fresco in which

2.5
8.
Cupboard (Fassadenschrank)

South German (Nuremberg), early seventeenth were also assigned an easier task. 2 The cabi- tectural front (hence its German name,
century net piece not only had to demonstrate the Fassadenschrank—literally, "facade cabi-
Oak and pine carcase; pearwood and plum,
design skills of the journeyman and his net") became popular in Germany during
Hungarian ash, maple, and other woods
H. 8 ft. 8 in. (264.2 cm), w. 7 ft. (213.4 cm)> acquaintance with the architectural theory the late Gothic period. The Museum's
d. 2 ft. 6% in. (76.8 cm) of the period 3 —for the practice of imitating example clearly reflects Italian Renaissance
Rogers Fund, 1905 architecture in furniture was widespread in palace architecture of the sixteenth century.
05.22.2 Germany—but also had to show his mas- Certain carved elements on the pediments
tery of joinery. Sometimes the assignment and in the niches and also the hardware
During the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- even included producing a simple structure, ornaments indicate that it should be dated
turies in Central Europe, the term "wood- such as a window frame. The candidates to the early seventeenth century, although
worker" did not define a single trade. had to invest money to buy the materials its form in general would suggest the period
Instead, there were cabinetmakers and they needed and were unable to earn any- between 1550 and 1575. It consists of
chairmakers, each represented by their own thing during the time they spent working on a drawer-podium supporting a two-door
guild. The lathe-turned parts of wooden fur- the piece. In most cases they were forced to cabinet, a drawer-cornice, a second two-
niture could not be made in the shop but sell their high-quality masterpiece immedi- door cabinet, and at the top a hollow cor-
had to be bought from members of an inde- ately after presenting it to the aldermen of nice. The form developed from the simple
pendent turners' guild and the hardware the guild, in order to pay city taxes, to cover idea of placing two similar chests on top
ordered from a master blacksmith. This entrance contributions to various guild of each other to create an optical unit (see
complex system had been developed to pro- funds, and to raise the capital to establish fig. 11).4 Characteristic details are the heavy
tect guild members from outside competi- their own business. wrought-iron handles, two on each side,
tion and to guarantee them a minimum wage. We do not know if the Museum's splen- which made it possible to dismantle the
Each master—that is, each qualified member did cupboard was a masterpiece; certainly object quickly in case of fire.5
of a guild—was allowed to employ only two it represents a tour de force of cabinetmak- The cupboard's majestic appearance
journeymen and one or sometimes two ap- ing. This type of cupboard with an archi- derives from its balanced proportions, and
prentices. Only the artisans who worked for
one of the many courts of the scattered Ger-
man territorial states were exempt from
these regulations. 1
Apprentices in the extremely conserva-
tive cabinetmakers' guild were required to
create a masterpiece, or chef d'oeuvre, of
highly complicated design in order to qual-
ify as a master. The guilds in different
German towns—from the free imperial
cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg in south-
ern Germany to the urban strongholds of
the Hanseatic League in the north—had
diverse requirements for masterpieces. Nor
were all the candidates for mastership in a
given guild treated equally in this respect. A
"foreign" journeyman—and in the patch-
work configuration of states in the Holy
Roman Empire, that might mean a man
born a stone's throw from the boundary
lines of the region under a guild's control—
often had to produce a more elaborate and
Fig. 11. Cupboard
costlier masterpiece than a local applicant by Master "HS"
for membership. A guild member's son or (active 1536-69),
son-in-law or the prospective husband of a ca. 1536-40. Wood-
cut in Simon Jervis,
master's widow, all of whom were likely to
Printed Furniture
acquire an already established workshop, Designs before 1650
(Leeds, 1974).

26
2-7
its visual interest lies in architectural details
such as the projecting and recessed compo-
nents of the front and the use of woods of
different colors and grain, which evoke the
marble slabs on Renaissance facades. CD
When new, these woods must have offset
each other to an even more striking effect.
Unusual is the pretzel shape of the handles.CD
Large cupboards were often built to con-
tain a bride's linens. The long pine shelves
of this one are marked with numbers (from
one through thirty-one) to indicate exactly
where rolls of fabric or folded items should
be placed.7
This Fassadenschrank and a related cup-
board were among the first pieces of Central
European furniture to enter the Metro-
politan Museum, and they remain the most
important examples of their type in North
American museums. WK
Cabinet
Italian (Florence), 1606-23
Oak and poplar veneered with various exotic
hardwoods; ebony moldings; marble plaques;
slate (paragon); pietre dure work consisting of
colored marbles, rock crystal, and other hard-
stones
H. 23V4 in. (59.1 cm), w. 38V8 in. (96.8 cm),
d. i4'/s in. (35.9 cm)
Wrightsman Fund, 1988
1988.19
"The Barberini family in the later sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries presents a virtual
paradigm of the well-managed Roman fam-
ily. The Barberini recognized that the way to
power and wealth lay through the Church
and that the perpetuation of the family was
dependent on marriage; and they accord-
ingly consistently pursued both of those
channels of family development. For several
generations they were blessed with sufficient
male offspring, and they managed this natu-
ral resource to the benefit of the family as a
whole." 1 In line with this tradition, Maffeo
( 1568-1644), the second youngest of Antonio
i. Stürmer 1978, p. 800; Stürmer 198z; Stürmer 1986;
and Wilk 1996, pp. 84, 98 {entries by Sarah Medlam;
the two German cabinets she discusses are eighteenth-
century; however, the guild situation had not changed
since the late medieval period}.
z. Ash 1965, p. 34, fig. 86; Huth 1965, p. 48, fig. 136
(dated 1541}; Meister 1965, p. 146, fig. 57z; Kreisel
1968, pp. 74-76, 180-85, figs. 91, 93, 101, 142-51,
389, 390; Koeppe 1991b; Koeppe 199z, pp. 118,
157-59, 16Z-64, 168, 19Z-94, nos. M5Z, M88,
M9Z, M97, color ills. pp. 190,19z, Z4Z; and Morley
1999, P- 74»fig-I2-9-
3. The ten-part treatise De architectura (after 17 B.C.)
by the Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio was very
influential. It had been reissued in Latin in 1485 in
Rome by Giovanni Sculpicio. One of the best-known
editions north of the Alps was Sebastiano Serlio's
treatise Regole generali di architettura sopra le cinque
maniere de gli edifici, published in 1537 in Venice
and translated into German in 154z; Günther 1988.
Another important German translation of Vitruvius's
De architectura, with added illustrations, was Vitru-
vius Teutsch by Walther Hermann Ryff (Rivius) of
Nuremberg (ca. 1500-after 1545), published in
1548. Ryff, who added his own commentary, dedi-
cated the work "to all artistic craftsmen, foremen,
stonecutters, builders, headgear makers and gun-
Barberini's six sons, left Florence in 1584, to
take up residence and continue his educa-
tion at the Collegio Romano in Rome as a
protégé of his uncle Monsignor Francesco
Barberini (1528-1600), the apostolic proto-
notary. 2 Maffeo later graduated from Pisa
University as doctor of law. He returned to
Rome in 1588-89 to embark on a meteoric
ascent through the ecclesiastical hierarchy
of the Vatican. From 1604 to 1607 he was
accredited as papal nuncio to Henry IV's
court in Paris, following an initial legation
to France in 1602. This first Bourbon king
(r. 1589-1610) had married Maria de'
Medici (1573-1642), who came from
Florence, the town where Maffeo was born
and most of his family still lived. In the cul-
turally stimulating environment of Paris,
Maffeo acquired a refined taste for the arts
and enjoyed many luxuries that had previ-
ously been beyond his reach. It may have
been in Paris, too, that he redesigned the
Barberini coat of arms for his own use,
changing the wasps into bees and adding
smiths, . . . painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, cabinet-
makers, and all who have to use the compass and
the guiding ruler in an artistic manner." Thus, Ryff
intended his publication not for a small circle of
humanist connoisseurs but for practicing craftsmen,
including the makers of fine furniture; see Dann
1988, especially p. 81.
4. Windisch-Graetz 198z, p. Z65, no. Z38; Koeppe
199z, pp. 157-59, no. M88, color ill. p. 190.
5. For similar cabinets, see Meister and Jedding 1958,
fig. 101; Bauer, Märker, and Ohm 1976, figs. 17,
18 (the captions to these two illustrations are in
reverse positions); Windisch-Graetz 1983, pp. 356-
57, nos, Z13, Z94; and Koeppe 199z, pp. 117-18,
no. M5Z, color ill. p. 183.
6. Forssman 1956, pp. 39ff.
7. The cabinet was restored in 1993-94 by John
Canonico, Conservator, Department of Objects
Conservation, Metropolitan Museum. Damaged
shelves in the upper compartment have not been
replaced.
8. The accession number of the related cabinet is
05.22.1.
the sun symbol and laurel leaves of Apollo,
patron of poets. ,CD After his appointment to
the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1606, he
added a galero, the flat, red wide-brimmed
cardinal's hat adorned with scarlet tassels.
These arms are set like a jewel in the cen-
ter of the Museum cabinet's pediment. Three
golden bees stand out against a lapis lazuli
ground within a scrollwork cartouche that
is embellished with stylized laurel sprigs and
leaves and is surmounted by the galero.
Probably because the panel is small, the
galero is shown with six tassels on each side
instead of the fifteen appropriate for a car-
dinal. Maffeo Barberini was elected pope on
6 August 1623 and took the name Urban
VIII. Eager to immortalize his pontificate
and to secure a place for his family among
Europe's aristocracy, he became a great
patron of the arts and named his brother
and three of his nephews cardinals. This
nepotism made the Barberini family rich
beyond measure, and their building pro-
grams changed the appearance of Baroque
Rome. 4 The Barberini bees and laurel leaves
appear on many of Urban VIII's commis-
sions, one of the most significant of which
was the baldachin designed by Gianlorenzo
Bernini (1598-1680) and built between
1624 and 1633 in Saint Peter's.5
On the door of the central compartment
of the Museum's cabinet Orpheus, the leg-
endary Thracian poet, is seen playing a lira
da braccio, an early type of viol, and charm-
ing various button-eyed animals and grotes-
que beasts with his music.CD Clare Vincent
has noted that "this panel is flanked by six
subjects of animal cunning or foolishness
taken from woodcuts in Francisco Tuppo's
Aesop's Fables (Naples, 1485). These include
the greedy dog who drops his morsel while
trying to gobble up the one reflected in the
water—the reflection is cleverly achieved in
reverse-painted rock crystal. Below are ani-
mals hunting and hunted, with a witty
revenge of cocks on their hunter, a fox." In
Fig. 13. This drawer front on the left side of the cabinet is inlaid with the image of a salamander
comparison with the poetic Orpheus scene on a pyre and framed by ebony ripple moldings. The front of the carcase of the cabinet is veneered
above, this merciless illustration—the cocks with exotic wood (Piratinera guianensis).

29
are carrying the dead beast home on a
stick—bespeaks an awareness of sudden
changes in which a pleasant life is turned
"upside down" into tragedy.
The panels to left and right of the door,
in the top register, show the salamander,
impervious to fire (fig. 13), and the phoenix,
a bird that according to classical myth lived
for centuries and then burned itself to ashes,
from which a new, young phoenix arose.
The salamander was an emblem of Francis I
of France (1494-1547)—a celebrated patron
of art and poetry such as Maffeo wished to
be—and the phoenix was the device of Pope
Clement Vili (1536-1605), who had
granted Maffeo the position of nuncio at
the French court.' This logical interpreta-
tion of the panels' symbolism has been
questioned by Michael Bohr, who dated the
cabinet much later, to about 1665-75; it is
difficult, however, to dismiss the revised
Barberini coat of arms as evidence that the
cabinet's first owner was the young Floren-
tine who had been papal nuncio at the court
of Henry IV. There is subtler evidence, too,
that connects the cabinet with Maffeo. The
phoenix, which symbolizes chastity and res-
urrection, looks up toward the sun that rep-
resents Apollo, the god who played for the
Muses on Mount Parnassus as Orpheus
played for the animals. Apollo is often rep-
resented with a crown of laurel in recogni-
tion of his achievements as patron of poetry
and music. 9 As we have seen, both laurels
and the Apollonian sun were added by
Maffeo to his arms, the presence of which at
the top of the cabinet reinforces the looser
symbolism of the other plaques on this out-
standing piece of furniture, which is clearly
intended to glorify the owner as artist and
as arbiter of the arts.
Only the exact dating of the cabinet
remains mysterious. In 1606, when Maffeo
was made a cardinal, he could still be con-
sidered a "son of Florence." That the cabinet
was a propaganda gift from the grand dukes
of Tuscany, the family of Maria de' Medici,
to Maffeo on that occasion is speculative but
possible. Yet the subject matter of the panels
suggests an intimate knowledge of Maffeo's
ambitions, and it seems more likely that he
commissioned the cabinet himself or that it
was a present from his own family or friends
in honor of his elevation to cardinal, or of
some other auspicious event that occurred
between 1606 and August 1623, when he
adopted the papal coat of arms. 10
30
The pietre dure plaques reflect the high
technical standard of the grand-ducal work-
shop in Florence, the Galleria dei Lavori. 11
Large panels with floral branches and color-
ful birds executed after designs possibly
provided by Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1626)
decorate the cabinet's sides and—very
unusually—the top. This suggests that the
cabinet was originally supported on a low
stand that would permit close viewing of
the top from above. The stand was most
likely a simple table draped with precious
fabric. All the panels are framed by ripple
moldings that are designed to catch the light,
especially that of candles in a dark room. 11
The carcase construction of the cabinet
and its ripple moldings relate it to a cabinet
made for the Medici, now in the Palazzo
Vecchio in Florence, dating to about
1615-20, 1 3 and to a cabinet in the National
Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. 14 The technical
perfection of the works seems to indicate
that all three pieces were produced by
German craftsmen settled in Florence. The
employment of several German craftsmen at
the Galleria is documented, as is the un-
usual fact that some of them owned their
tools and lathes, which they may have
brought with them from Germany. 15 Oak is
rarely used in the construction of contempo-
rary Florentine cabinets. 1 Nevertheless, we
know that some foreign masters brought with
them the materials they were accustomed to
use and received reimbursement later. Given
the sumptuousness of the other materials
used on the Museum's cabinet, especially
the exotic snakewood on the front between
the drawers, the extra expense for oak to
create a stable construction seems minor.' 7
The Orpheus scene is based on an etch-
ing by Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630). 1
The theme appears also on the imitation
damascened-iron fittings on Milanese furni-
ture and on cast-bronze plaques.' 9 The
theme would become one of the Galleria's
most popular products: no less than eight-
een pieces of furniture, each with a slightly
varied central Orpheus plaque and different
animal panels, are documented. 20 This indi-
cates that panels could be commissioned
separately and then mounted later according
to the taste of the individual patron. The most
impressive examples are a show cabinet of
1660-70 in the collection of Juan March
Ordinas at Palau March in Palma de Mal-
lorca 11 and at the Chateau de Beloeil,
Mons, Belgium, a pair of Sicilian cabinets
with red coral mounts surrounding the pietre
dure panels. 11 The Barberini cabinet seems to
be by far the earliest and most elaborately
conceived object of this extensive group
depicting Orpheus charming the animals.
WK
r. Waddy r990, p. 128.
2. On rhe life and papacy of Maffeo Barberini, Pope
Urban VIII, see Dictionary of Art 1996, vol. 3,
pp. 2.05—7 (entry by John Bcldon Scott); Schütze
2005 (I thank Olga Raggio for bringing this impor-
tant reference to my artention); and Catholic
Encyclopedia (online at www.newadvent.org/
cathen/i 5218b.htm).
3. Dictionary of Art 1996, vol. 3, p. 205 (entry by John
Beldon Scott).
4. Waddy 1990, p. 130.
5. These four bronze spiral columns are covered with
laurel branches. Several other works of art commis-
sioned by the Barberini family in the pope's honor
include this specific floral motif. Allegory of
Divine Providence, a fresco by Pierro da Cortona
{1596-1669) in the Palazzo Barberini ordered by
Urban's nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini, ideal-
izes the pope's pontificate, his moral standards, and
his political and especially his poetic skills. The
center is dominated by the papal arms, three bees
encircled by a laurel wreath. A putto nearby holds
the laurel crown awarded to worthy poets. See
Dictionary of Art 1996, vol. 3, pp. 206-7 (entry
by John Beldon Scott).
6. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1988, pp. 28-29 (entry
by Clare Vincent). For the woodcuts, see Tuppo
1485, fabulea 2, 6, r8, 23, 35.
7. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1988, p. 29 (entry by
Clare Vincent); and Freiberg 1995. The salamander
was also at this time an emblem of France. On the
facade of San Luigi dei Francesi (the French church
in Rome, completed 1589), the salamander guards
the portals. On the left is the device of Francis I with
his motto "Nutrisco et extingo" {I nourish and des-
troy), but on the right the salamander is surrounded
by the legend "Erit Chri[s]tianorum lumen in igne"
(The light of the Christians will be in the fire).
8. Bohr T993, pp. 200-203, no. III.
9. Hall 1979, p. 26.
10. Martin 1987, pp. 133-36.
11. Giusti, Mazzoni, and Pampaloni Martelli 1978;
Baldini, Giusti, and Pampaloni Martelli 1979; and
Ramond 1994, pp. 63-66.
12. For these moldings, see Greber 1956, pp. 335-38;
and Koeppe 1992, pp. 103-4, no. M38.
13. Baldini, Giusti, and Pampaloni Martelli 1979,
pp. 291-92, no. 101, pi. 143.
14. Ace. no. 28145.
15. Bohr 1993, p. 16.
16. Ibid., pp. 200-203, no. III.
17. González-Palacios 1982, p. 38; and Bohr 1993,
pp. 311-12, doc. no. 317.
18. Buffa 1984, p. 124.
19. Hughes 1996, vol. 1, p. 126, no. 21; and Wilk 1996,
p. 62, figs. 1, 2 (entry by Tessa Murdoch).
20. Information in the archives of the Department of
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metro-
politan Museum.
21. Junquera y Mato 1992, p. 261.1 was not able to
examine the March cabinet personally for this study.
22. Gismondi and Richard 1988, fig. 9. I am grateful
to H.S.H. the prince de Ligne, Château de Beloeil,
Belgium, for bringing this information to my attention.
IO.
Cabinet (beeldenkast)
Dutch, 1622
Oak
H. 96 in. (243.7 cm), tv. 83 in. (210.7 cm)>
d. 35 in. (88.8 cm)
Inscribed on the book carved on the drum
beneath the feet of Prudence: "DEN 27 IN
APRILIS ANNO 1622 STILO NOVO VAERT
WEL." Inscribed beneath the figures in the upper
frieze are their names: "ARESTOTVLVS,"
"MATHEVS" ••MARCVS" "LVCAS,"
"IOANNES," "DALIDA EN SAMSON."
Fletcher Fund, 1964
64.81
Monumental cabinets of this type, known in
modern Dutch as beeldenkasten (cabinets
with figures) in reference to the usually
female caryatids carved on them, were
among the most costly and impressive
pieces of furniture made in the Northern
Netherlands during the first half of the sev-
enteenth century.' Architectural in structure,
this four-door example consists of a base
and two main sections topped by a broad
frieze and a protruding cornice. A large
drawer with a convex front forming a sec-
ond frieze separates the upper part from the
one below. The base, also fitted with a drawer,
is raised off the floor by two dragon-shaped
supports. 1 The entire cabinet is richly deco-
rated with exquisite carving, especially on
the front, which is embellished by six cary-
atids supporting Ionic capitals. From left to
right, flanking the doors in the upper regis-
ter are the three Theological Virtues: Hope
with a book, Charity with three infants, and
Faith with an anchor and a dove.CD Three of
the four Cardinal Virtues—Prudence with a
snake, who probably held a mirror in her
missing hand, Justice with a sword and
scales, and Fortitude with a pillar—flank
the doors from left to right in the lower reg-
ister. The drums underneath the feet of the
three Cardinal Virtues are carved with
figures from the Old Testament. They are,
again from left to right, King David playing
the harp (fig. 14), Judith handing the head
of Holofernes to her maidservant, and
Samson slaying the lion by breaking its jaw.
The sides of the cabinet display vertical pan-
els. Framed by moldings, the center of each
panel is composed of three pieces of oak.
The pieces at top and bottom are triangular,
creating the illusion of depth. The door pan-
els on the front are oriented horizontally
and decorated with biblical stories. The sin-
gle panels in the upper section are devoted
to the judgment of Solomon and Queen
Esther kneeling before her husband, the
Persian King Ahasuerus. 3 Episodes from the
life of Joseph are rendered on the double
panels of the lower doors. The top two
show, from left to right, the young Joseph
relating his dreams to his father and broth-
ers, and Joseph being lifted from the pit and
sold into slavery. Those below are divided
into two scenes each: the one to the left
depicts Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife and
Joseph in prison, explaining the dreams of
Pharaoh's butler and baker.CD The panel on
the right illustrates Joseph interpreting
Pharaoh's dreams and the episode when
Joseph's silver cup is found in his brother
Benjamin's corn sack (fig. 15).
The frieze that runs along the facade and
sides of the cabinet beneath the cornice is
divided into six sections by modulions
carved with a winged angel's head. Depicted
on the front are the Four Evangelists with
their symbols and their names inscribed
between large foliated scrolls. On the left
can be seen Phyllis riding on the Greek
philosopher Aristotle's back, and on the
right Delilah is holding shears to cut locks
of hair from Samson's head. Q Different
hunting scenes, which seem to be purely
ornamental, are rendered on the convex
frieze below. On the left side of the cabinet
hares are chased by hounds. The quarries
on the front are stag and ox. These scenes
are separated by three lions' heads, each
with a ring in its mouth; the one in the cen-
ter serves as a drawer pull. A boar is hunted
on the cabinet's right side. The carved
scrolls and fruit baskets on the drawer front
in the base create a certain trompe l'oeil
effect since the sequence is broken at the
center, giving the impression that the motifs
continue behind the central lion's head. 4
Although a number of beeldenkasten
have survived, few are dated. The inscription
and date, 27 April 1622, on the Museum's
piece make it the earliest example of certain
date known to exist (see fig. 14). 5 A special
event may have taken place on that day,
possibly a wedding, since such large cup-
boards were often commissioned for, or pre-
sented to, a bride, who would use it to store
her linens. It has been suggested that the
themes of their decoration are linked to
marriage, since they are allegories of male
and female valor and virtues. Indeed, dur-
ing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
illustrations of biblical stories served as
didactic examples of moral behavior and
were regularly used in the Netherlands as
embellishment for furniture and other
objects of daily use.7
The Theological and Cardinal Virtues
represented as caryatids might be seen as
the pillars of a Christian marriage or, more
generally, of a society based on the
Christian creed. The judgment of King
Solomon symbolized justice and wisdom,
and Queen Esther's courageous intercession
on behalf of her people exemplified a wife's
beneficial influence within a marriage. The
complex story of Joseph has been said to
illuminate the love of family,9 but individual
episodes could be interpreted differently.
Joseph's rejection of Potiphar's wife, a
beloved theme in Dutch art, may be seen as
an allegory of chastity and as a warning
Fig. 14. Carving on the left drum of the cupboard
showing King David playing the harp. The book
on the table beside him has an inscription and
a date.
31
Fig. 15. Carving on a lower door panel of the cupboard showing Joseph explaining Pharaoh's dreams (left) and Joseph's steward finding his master's silver cup
in the corn sack of Joseph's brother Benjamin.
against lust and adultery. 10 Samson in com-
bat with the lion is readily understood as an
emblem of Fortitude, under whose feet he is
depicted on the cabinet.' 1 Especially popu-
lar as instructive examples were the biblical
heroines—the brave and chaste Judith, for
instance, who saved her people by behead-
ing Holofernes, a general who had laid siege
to the Jewish city of Bethulia. But the story
of Judith and Holofernes could have a differ-
ent interpretation as well. In association
with depictions of Delilah and Samson and
of Phyllis and Aristotle, it can be seen as an
illustration of a man's misfortunes at the
hands of a scheming woman. 11 The inscribed
book on the drum beneath King David might
be a reference to the Psalms, of which he is
traditionally believed to be the author.
Although it is not known who was re-
sponsible for the creation of this magnifi-
cent cabinet, it must reflect the collaboration
of both a cabinetmaker and a master carver.
According to guild regulations, a cabinet-
maker was not allowed to execute more
than the simplest of carvings. The carver of
this cabinet has paid remarkable attention
to minute details, such as the patterns of
32
garments and their trim or the depiction
of dreams in three of the Joseph panels.
For instance, the cows that appeared in
Pharaoh's first dream symbolizing seven
years of plenty and seven years of famine to
come can be clearly distinguished. The idea
of rendering the king's dream as well as those
of Joseph and of the baker and the butler in
medallions above their heads must have
been derived from engravings.' 3 Probably all
these representations were adapted from
popular print sources or Bible illustrations.
Some of the scenes in the panels, such as
that of Jacob interpreting Pharaoh's dreams
(fig. 15), are related to compositions by the
Haarlem painter and draftsman Maarten
van Heemskerck (1498-1574), who pro-
duced numerous designs for prints with sub-
Fig. 16. Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert, Interpreting
jects from the Old and New Testaments (see the Dreams of Pharaoh, etching after Maarten
fig. 16). van Heemskerck, ca. 1549-50. The Metropolitan
In several ways the Museum's cabinet is Museum of Art, New York, The Elisha Whittelsey
Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966
different from extant beeldenkasten of later (66.613.11).
date. Two of the five modulions on the front
do not correspond to uprights below and
therefore make little sense in architectural
terms. In later cabinets there are usually
only three such carved brackets and they
33
are placed directly above the caryatids.
Whereas cabinets of this type are generally
supported on ball feet, this example has
dragon's feet, which appear to be related to
the fanciful creatures seen in furniture
designs by Hans Vredeman de Vries (152.7-
1604) and his son Paul (1567-after 1630). I4
The fact that an episode from the life of
Queen Esther is depicted also attests to the
early date of the Museum's piece. Esther's
popularity as one of the Old Testament hero-
ines waned in the Netherlands during the
early seventeenth century in favor of the
chaste Susanna. A number of beeldenkasten
of a slightly later date are decorated with
carved scenes of Susanna.15
Beeldenkasten are traditionally thought
to have originated in the western coastal
region of the Netherlands called Holland; 1
however, since a substantial number of
examples displaying carving of varied qual-
ity is known today, it is likely that the type
was fashionable from the outset in other
areas of the country as well.
The cabinet is first recorded in the collec-
tion of D. G. Bingham of Utrecht, whence it
11.
Cabinet on stand
French (Paris), ca. 1645
Oak and poplar wood veneered with
ivory, stained ivory, bone, and various
woods, including kingwood and amaranth;
ebonized pearwood; gilt-bronze capitals and
bases; plated-iron hardware
Stamped on the back of the cabinet and on
the back of the stand: "RESTORED
HERTER BROTHERS." Inscribed on two bone
panels: "Roma" and "1561."
H. 74'A in. (189.2 cm), w. 66 in. (167.6
d. 23 in. (58.4 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Harold Fowler, 1931
3i.66a,b
Exotic woods such as ebony became avail-
able in Europe through the overseas trade
initiated by the Portuguese during the six-
teenth century. Imported from faraway
places such as Madagascar and the sur-
rounding islands, ebony was admired for its
dark, almost black color; its hardness; and
its lustrous surface. Too rare and precious to
be used as solid wood, ebony was almost
exclusively reserved for veneering. This tech-
34
was sold at auction in 1923. 17 Bought at
that sale by the Amsterdam dealer Etienne
Delaunoy, the cabinet was acquired at an
unknown date by the newspaper magnate
and collector William Randolph Hearst
(1863-1951).18 DK-G
1. See Baarsen 1993b and Reinier Baarsen's entry in
Luijten et al. 1993, pp. 415-16, no. 73.
2. When the cabinet was acquired by the Museum, it
had three dragon supports. The central one was re-
moved because it was considered to be a later addition.
3. This scene was long thought to depict the Queen of
Sheba's visit to Solomon, but the fact that the king is
extending his scepter to the kneeling woman makes it
clear that he is Ahasuerus, forgiving Esther for enter-
ing his presence without having been summoned; see
Veldman 1993, pp. 133, 136, no. 155/1-
4. Baarsen 1993b, p. 208.
5. The date "DEN 27 IN APRILIS ANNO 1622" is fol-
lowed by the words, partly in Latin and partly in
Dutch, "STILO NOVO VAERT WEL," meaning "in
the new style, fare well." "In the new style" probably
refers to the change made in 1582 from the Julian to
the Gregorian calendar, which was accepted at differ-
ent times by different countries. In the Julian calen-
dar (old style) the date would have been 12 April
1622. Related beeldenkasten decorated with six cary-
atids are known, but none is dated. See, for instance,
Haags Gemeentemuseum 1975, no. 5; "Nederlandse
Kunst- en Antiekbeurs" 1979, p. 634; and Flemming
1992, p. 2372.
nique, introduced into France from Germany
ebony,
and the Low Countries, was to exert great
marquetry
influence on the making of case, or storage,
furniture. In fact, the seventeenth-century
French cabinetmakers who worked with ebony
veneer became known as menuisiers en ébène,
1884-5
and later ébénistes, a term still used today.
Using carved and engraved ornament
cm), and a variety of ripple moldings that create
marvelous light reflections on the glossy
dark surface, these craftsmen decorated a
new type of furniture in France: the impos-
ing ebony cabinet. 1 Unlike the small late-
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century table
cabinets made in Augsburg and Antwerp that
were meant to be seen in the round, these
large and sumptuous pieces were intended
to stand against the wall and thus are never
veneered on the back. Like the collector's
cabinet, they were used for the safekeeping of
jewelry, medals, documents, and curiosities2
and were commissioned by important patrons
such as Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642). 3
6. Lunsingh Scheurleer 1961, p. 46; and Baarsen 1993a,
pp. 24-25, no. 9.
7. See the catalogue of an exhibition in Utrecht devoted
to this topic: Kootte 1991.
8. Brooke 1992, p. 53.
9. Baarsen 1993b, p. 207. A cabinet with scenes from
the life of Joseph in the Gemeentemuseum, The
Hague, is illustrated in Haags Gemeentemuseum
1975, no. 5. Another, in the Museum für Kunst und
Gewerbe, Hamburg, is illustrated in Feulner 1980,
pi. 232.
10. Maarten van Heemskerck used this theme as an
illustration of the Tenth Commandment: You shall
not covet your neighbor's servant. See Brooke 1992,
pp. 20-21.
11. Hall 1979, pp. 271-72.
12. Ibid., pp. 31, 181, 272.
13. See, for instance, Thesaurus Sacrarum Historiaru
Veteris Testamenti, published by Gerard de Jode
(Antwerp, 1579), pis. 92, 95, 96.
14. Jervis 1974b, nos. 149, 154, 32.8, 330-31.
15. Kootte 1991, p. 49, fig. 46, p. 89, no. 43; and
Veldman 1991, pp. 40-41.
16. This idea is based on the fact that one cabinet was
made at Hoorn. The resemblance of the female
caryatids on the pulpit of the Nieuwe Kerk in
Amsterdam, carved in 1648-49 by Albert
Vinckenbrinck (1604/5-1664/65), has further
strengthened this theory. See Luijten et al. 1993,
p. 416, no. 73 (entry by Reinier Baarsen).
17. Frederik Muller et Cíe., Amsterdam, 26-29 J u n e
1923, lot 626.
18. It was sold from Hearst's collection at a sale at
Hammer Galleries, New York, in 1941, lot 126-1.
The Museum's example is constructed in
two sections. The upper part—the cabinet
proper—is fitted with two doors on the
front, surmounted by a frieze concealing a
drawer on each side, and crowned by a pro-
truding cornice. 4 The lower section com-
prises the stand, whose frieze encloses two
drawers and is supported by six slightly
projecting columns in front and at the back
by half columns and pilasters with panels
between them. These ringed columns and
pilasters, with Ionic capitals similar to those
found on contemporary buildings, lend an
architectural character to the cabinet. 5 This
is further emphasized by the articulation of
the door panels, where fluted pilasters,
flanking shallow niches containing figurai
sculptures, directly correspond to the col-
umns below, giving the cabinet a structural
unity (fig. 17). Behind the doors is a tier of
five drawers on either side of a central com-
partment. CD This compartment is enclosed
by two more doors, each decorated to
resemble a pedimented Corinthian colonnade.
Whereas some ebony cabinets display
mythological figures or scenes based on
contemporary literature, it is stories from
the Old Testament that are found on the
Museum's cabinet. Some of them are based
on woodcut illustrations from Figures his-
toriques du Vieux 'Testament (see figs. 18,
19). This book was first published in 1596,
and a second edition was issued in 1614 by
Jean Le Clerc in Paris. Depicted on the exte-
rior of the left door is the judgment of
Solomon, and on the right door is the meet-
ing of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Both are enclosed in elaborate cartouches
and framed by intricate moldings and
engraved flowers. On the sides of the cabi-
net are rendered, respectively, the prophet
Ahija with Jereboam and Solomon made
king.CD The plinth has episodes from the
lives of Tobias, Judith, Susanna, and David.
Carved on the outside of the interior doors
are Isaac blessing Jacob on the right and
Esau selling his birthright on the left. The
smaller panels on the drawer front below
the compartment are representations of
Hagar and Ishmael sent into the wilderness
by Abraham and their rescue by an angel. In
several of these scenes the figures from the
woodcuts have been faithfully copied,
although they were enlarged on the cabinet.
The compositions, however, were generally
simplified in the interest of clarity and in
some cases, as with the images of Hagar and
Ishmael, one woodcut served as an inspira-
tion for two panels.
Female personifications of the Theo-
logical Virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity,
stand in the niches on the exterior of the
cabinet, while two Cardinal Virtues, Pru-
dence and Justice, are seated inside the bro-
ken pediments on the interior doors. Putti
frolicking with hybrid sea creatures deco-
rate the fronts of the two tiers of drawers,
and engraved landscape scenes framed by
ripple moldings further embellish the inside
of the outer doors. It is not clear whether a
specific iconographie scheme was intended.
The association of the Theological and
Cardinal Virtues with the biblical heroines
Judith, Susanna, and Hagar suggests an
allusion to the so-called Femmes Fortes (lit-
erally, "strong women"). This theme gained
importance in art during the first half of the
seventeenth century, when the queen moth-
ers of France Marie de Médicis (1573-
1642) and Anne of Austria (1601-1666)
served as regents for their young sons, the
future Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and it
found literary expression in Pierre Le
Moyne's popular La galerie des femmes
fortes.6 Published in Paris in 1647 and dedi-
cated to Anne of Austria, this book con-
sisted of a series of engravings of illustrious
women from antiquity to modern times.
In strong contrast with the monochro-
matic decor of the rest of the cabinet, the
central compartment, known as a caisson in
the seventeenth century, is brightly colored.CD
35
 Treated as a sumptuous architectural inte-
rior, it was meant to surprise the viewer and
enchant the eye. 7 The checkered floor and
ceiling, the marbleized ivory cornice, and
the two ivory columns in front that simulate
coral are original, but other elements, such
as the mirrored arcades and central apse,
are later replacements. Although the cabinet
was treated several times during the nine-
teenth century, they most likely date to a
major restoration that was undertaken in
1884-85 by Herter Brothers, as stamps on
the back indicate. CD This leading New York
cabinetmaking and interior-decorating firm,
established by Gustave Herter (1830-1892)
and his younger brother Christian (1839-
1883), specialized in the adaptation of
European historical styles.9 The brothers'
role as restorers of antique furniture is less
well known; certainly this aspect of their
work would have given them inspiration
for new designs. 10 During this restoration
the drawers were rebuilt and the back of the
cabinet proper was replaced, as were the lower
shelf and the feet. The shelf must originally
have protruded in the center and at either
end to echo the projections of the columns
and the entablature above, as can be seen on
other cabinets. Shaped apron ornaments,
now missing, were probably placed between
the front columns. The restorers must have
tried to reuse as many of the seventeenth-
century elements as possible; however, the
angels engraved on bone panels to either side
of the central apse, holding a plaque inscribed,

Fig. 17. General view of the cabinet on stand with the doors closed.

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•Y •fi

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yc\ 1
/ V

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A
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VBBHÊtSr^jk
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...J2SÍ Fig. 18. Carving of Judith

with the Head of Holofernes
7SÊÉS5 T^-
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**mmwm*mm* on the front of the cabinet's
— — — Sii -.
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36
Fig. 19. Judith with
the Head of Holo-
fernes, woodcut
attributed t o Jean
Cousin the Younger
( 1 5 1 2 - 1 5 9 4 ) in the
second edition of
Figures historiques
du Vieux Testament,
published by Jean Le
Clerc (Paris, 1614).
The Metropolitan
M u s e u m of Art, N e w
York, H a r r i s Brisbane
Dick Fund, 1 9 3 1
(31.65).
respectively, "Roma" and "1561," were cer-
tainly not original. 0
One indication of how rare and precious
ebony was during the first half of the seven-
teenth century is the fact that the columnar
legs are made of blackened, so-called
ebonized, pearwood. In an attempt to
reduce the overall cost, ebony veneer was
applied at eye level on the superstructure,
while the cheaper, ebonized substitute was
chosen for the lower part, which would,
after all, receive less attention than the top.
Another indication of thrift is the practice
of inlaying thin pieces of ebony into the oak
substrate. This was done, as on the outside of
the outer doors, at varying levels in order to
create a layered effect and, at the same time,
to minimize the use of the imported wood.
The various ripple moldings were pro-
duced with the help of a machine with a
manual crank and a plane that would cut
the repetitive decoration into the strips of
ebony.CD Originating in Nuremberg about
1600, this type of molding was quickly
adopted elsewhere but fell out of favor after
1700. 11 In fact, when André-Jacob Roubo
(1739-1791) wanted to describe the pro-
duction of such moldings in his standard
work L'art du menuisier, published in Paris
between 1769 and 1775, he had to recon-
struct a special machine on the basis of ear-
lier descriptions because no existing examples
could be found. 11
The use of white ivory and, especially,
tinted ivory that simulates coral, semi-
precious stones, or marble lends the caisson
its brightness. Contemporary manuals reveal
that a speckled or veined effect could be
achieved by coating those parts of the ivory
that were to remain white with removable
wax before dipping it in a colored dye, a
technique not unlike batiking a piece of
fabric.' 3 The Parisian cabinetmaker Adriaan
Garbrand and his son-in-law Pierre Gole
(ca. 1620-1684) used such ivory columns
stained to resemble coral in their expensive
ebony cabinets.' 4 A beautiful example is in
the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.' 5 Like the
Museum's cabinet, the themes of its decora-
tion derive from the Old Testament and
there is marbleized ivory in its interior. It
is more luxurious, however, but this is per-
haps partly due to the alterations made in
the interior compartment of the Metropoli-
tan's example during the nineteenth-century
restoration. A comprehensive study of the
caissons in all extant ebony cabinets is needed
before this one can be attributed to a specific
workshop.
Ebony cabinets fell out of favor during
the second half of the seventeenth century.1
They received renewed interest during the
nineteenth century, when elements stripped
from old examples were sold and new cabi-
nets were constructed from older parts.' 7 At
that time it was no longer known where
these pieces of furniture had originated—in
Flanders, Italy, or France. 1
This cabinet was brought to America
from Europe by one of its former owners,
Richard Meade, the father of George Gordon
Meade (1815-1872). Born in Spain, the
younger Meade served as a Union general in
the American Civil War. Sold by his family
after his death, the cabinet was exhibited in
1882 at the Memorial Hall in Philadelphia,
where a dispute about its ownership arose.' 9
Following the Herter Brothers' restoration
of 1884-85, it was acquired by Mrs. Robert
Hoe as a gift for her husband, a Museum
trustee from 1870 to 1892, and given to the
Museum by their granddaughter, Mrs.
Harold Fowler, in 1931. DK-G
Recent literature on ebony cabinets includes:
Alcouffe and De Bellaigue 1981, pp. 6-21. See also
Alcouffc 2002a; Alcouffe 2002b; Castelluccio 2002,
pp. 85-110; and Gaillemin 2002.
Castelluccio 2002, pp. 103, 110.
A large ebony cabinet of this type is described in
Cardinal Richelieu's 1642 inventory; see Levi 1985,
PP- 54-55-
The Museum's cabinet was first published in
Remington 193 1.
See, for instance, the half columns on the facade of
the former Palais des Tuileries, Paris; Gébelin 1927,
no. 132, pi. LXXXII.
Ian Wardropper has suggested this in an unpublished
paper. Queen Anne of Austria had ceiling frescoes
based on this theme in her bedchamber at the Louvre;
Bodart 1975, p. 44. See also Baumgärtel and Neysters
J
995> PP- 7i-78> I 7° _ 74> no. 55 (entry by Bettina
Baumgärtel); and Gaehtgens 1995, pp. 71-78.
In some cabinets, pleasantly scented wood was used
to satisfy the nose as well. Madame de Bietz, for
instance, specified the use of "bois de couleurs et qui
aye de bonne senteur" for the caisson of the cabinet
she commissioned in 1641; Archives Nationales,
Paris, minutier central, LXXXVII, 117, 1 April 1641;
quoted in Castelluccio 2002, p. 99.
"Curious Suit" 1882. I am grateful to Mechthild
Baumeister, Conservator, Department of Objects
Conservation, Metropolitan Museum, for bringing
this article to my attention. The cabinet was said
to be in a "shockingly dilapidated" state before
restoration; see "Remarkable Cabinet" 1885, p. 17.
When the interior was reconstructed, the secret
drawers were lost. Restoration presently under way
at the Museum turned up clear evidence of them
after the back of the cabinet had been removed. For
a detailed description of the recent conservation
campaign, see Baumeister and Rabourdin forthcoming.
Herter Brothers 1994, pp. 13-14-
The shape of a cabinet on stand by Herter Brothers,
in a private collection, for instance, is reminiscent of
these ebony cabinets. Ibid., pp. 212-14, no. 41 (entry
by Catherine Hoover Voorsanger).
Jutzi and Ringger 1986.
Ibid., pp. 52-54; Chapuis 1992, p. 77.
Michaelsen, Barthold, and Weissmann 2003.
Un temps d'exubérance 2002, p. 237, no. 137
(entry by Daniel Alcouffe}.
Baarsen 2000b, pp. 48-53.
Louis XIV's 1663 inventory shows that he did not
own any of these cabinets, preferring boulle work
and colored marquetry; Alcouffe 2002b, p. 216.
17 Edward Holmes Baidock (1777-1845), an antiques
dealer, is known to have sold parts taken from dis-
membered ebony cabinets. See De Bellaigue 1975,
pp. 2 0 - 2 1 .
18 Remington 1931; and Alcouffe 2002b, p. 216. They
were established as being French and attributed to
Jean Macé (ca. 1602-1672) in Lunsingh Scheurleer
1956.
19 "Remarkable Cabinet" 1885, p. 17.
37
12.

Coffer

Probably Dutch, mid-seventeenth century A number of seventeenth-century ebony
Pine veneered with ebony and macassar
coffers with carved caryatid half figures at
ebony; padauk wood; painted alabaster;
the canted corners have been preserved.
ivory; mirror glass
H. 1 4 % in. (37.1 cm), w. 16'A in. (41.9 cm), They are generally thought to be Flemish.'
d. 11V4 in. (29.9 cm) This is not surprising since Antwerp was
Pasted inside the compartment in the lid is a known from the late sixteenth century as a
round label on which is printed: "Hodgson
center for the production of ebony furni-
Bequest 250."
ture, especially collectors' cabinets. Often
Gift of Audrey B. Love in memory of
her husband C. Ruxton Love Jr., 1975 incorporating small painted or embroidered
1975-367 scenes from the Bible or from Ovid's Meta-
morphoses or plaques of silver or ivory, these
luxury cabinets became collectible objects in
their own right and found an international
market through the activities of the firm
Forchhondt and other Antwerp art dealers. 2
Supported on four small ball feet (see
fig. 20), the Museum's casket has simple
moldings on all sides of the exterior and is
fitted with a hinged fall front. Enlivening its
rectilinear shape is the gentle incurving out-
line of the elevated, cushion-shaped lid. In
addition, the term figures that are set on
consoles placed at an angle and wearing
auricular-style headdresses add a touch of
sculptural richness. With its fleshy and curvi-
linear forms of ornament resembling the
lobes of the human ear, the auricular style
was developed during the early seventeenth
 ment in the middle are four drawers that
conceal three additional hidden ones. Two
are placed behind the central recess and can
be accessed by removing the drawer imme-
diately to the right.CD The third is fitted in
the double bottom of the drawer to the left
and is disclosed when the lower sliding part
in the back of the drawer is opened.CD
Painted to show a vaulted structure on
its exterior, the small drop-front panel in the
middle is set back a little so that it rests on a
narrow ledge when lowered. Within is a
mirrored, five-sided compartment with a
tiled floor, whose checkers are made of
ebony and ivory. œ This recess, called a per-
spectiefje (literally, "little perspective"),
could be used to hold a small, treasured
object that could be seen and admired from
all sides through its reflection in the mirrors.
Unlike the carcase, which is made of
pine, the coffer's drawers and compartments
are of padauk, a tropical hardwood with a
deep crimson color. A sliding panel in the
top of the lid reveals an additional space for
the storage of documents or valuables.CD
Pieter de Hooch ( 1 6 2 9 - ^ 8 4 ) depicted a
similar coffer in use as a jewelry casket with
a necklace draped over one of its opened
drawers in his painting A Woman at Her
Toilette with an Officer of about 1665. 3 The
Fig. 20. General view of the coffer with the lid and the fall front closed. genre painter De Hooch was active in Delft
and later, from 1660 or 1661, in Amsterdam,

century by Dutch goldsmiths and became

widespread in northern Europe.
The alternating use of black ebony and
brown-black striped macassar ebony on the
stepped rim of the lid and the rectangular
panels of the body brings subtle tonal varia-
tions to the otherwise severe appearance of
the casket. In contrast, the interior is more
colorful and harbors several surprising com-
ponents. The inside of the lid, for instance,
which encloses a large compartment, is
embellished with an alabaster plaque painted
in monochrome that shows a mountainous
landscape populated by travelers and shep-
herds. The coffer's interior is visually divided
into three parts, with two tiers of drawers
on either side of a central section covered by
a drop-front panel.CD The latter is flanked by
ebony half columns and surmounted by a half-
circular pediment. Monochrome landscape
scenes on alabaster plaques are mounted on
the real drawer fronts as well as on the two
Fig. zi. Cabinet, Dutch, mid-seventeenth century. Oak veneered with ebony; ivory, padauk wood, and
simulated ones in the upper row. Arranged cedarwood; painted marble plaques; 19 x 21'A x iz'A in. Collection of the Hannema De Stuers
on either side of and below the compart- Fundatie, Heino.

39
and it is possible that the Museum's coffer was
made in the Northern Netherlands as well.4
It is documented that as early as about
1590 at least one cabinetmaker in Amster-
dam worked with ebony. Initially imported
to Europe by Portuguese merchants, this
exotic wood became more readily available
following the establishment of the Dutch
East India Company in 1602. As a result,
the number of ebony workers increased in
Amsterdam, and in 1626 a special subdivi-
sion of the Saint Joseph's Guild, to which
the cabinetmakers belonged, was created
for them. From then on, each ebony worker
wood and even in blackened whalebone.
One successful Amsterdam cabinetmaker
who worked both in ebony and in pressed
whalebone was Herman Doomer (ca. 1595-
1650). Several important cabinets veneered
with ebony and other imported woods and
embellished with carving and mother-of-
pearl inlay have been attributed to him. 7
The painted alabaster panels that deco-
rate the Museum's coffer are stylistically likely
to be the work of a Dutch artist. They dis-
play similarities with the painted decoration
of a larger collector's cabinet that is con-
sidered to be Dutch as well (fig. 21). Like
1. See Van Herck 1972, pp. 84-85, no. 91; and Fabri
1989, p. 121, no. 7. Similar caskets thought to be
Flemish were sold at Christie's, South Kensington,
London, 18 November 1992, lot 73, and at
Sotheby's, Monaco, 11 December 1999, lot 9. The
Museum's casket was published as Flemish in Farmer
1978, pp. 22, 66, no. 61.
2. Fabri 1991, pp. 176-84. See also Fock 1992, pp. 75-78.
3. This painting is at Apsley House, London; P. C.
Sutton 1980, p. 98, no. 70, pi. 73.
4. It was first suggested that the Museum's coffer could
have originated in the Northern Netherlands in
Westermann 2001, pp. 70, 206, no. 103 (entry by
Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide).
5. Lunsingh Scheurleer 1942, p. 36; and Baarsen 1996,
p. 740.
6. Jervis 1968, p. 136; and Drossaers and Lunsingh
Scheurleer 1974, p. 193, no. 270.

in the city had to submit a hexagonal cabi- 7. Baarsen 1996.

net as well as a frame of ebony to the guild
as masterpieces.' Contemporary sources
from the first half of the seventeenth century
confirm the production of ebony cabinets
not only in Amsterdam but also in The
Hague. Since ebony furniture remained
costly, imitations were made in ebonized
the present coffer, this cabinet, which is in
8. Its painted decoration is said to be on marble; see
the collection of the Hannema De Stuers Bergvelt and Kistemaker 1992, pp. 55-56, no. 82
Fundatie, Heino, has drawers made of hard {entry by Reinier Baarsen). See also a closely related
cabinet that was sold at Sotheby's, Amsterdam,
padauk wood. The carving on the Museum's
11 June 2003, lot 84.
coffer is reminiscent of work attributed to
9. Baarsen 2002, p. 191.
Doomer, and it is entirely possible that this
elegant piece originated in Amsterdam. 9
DK-G

13-

Collector's cabinet

German (Augsburg), ca. 1655-59

Cabinetry by the workshop of Melchior
Baumgartner (1621-1686); engraved decora-
tions on the exterior probably English, second
quarter of the nineteenth century; silver appli-
cations by Jeremías Sibenbiirger (ca. 1583-
1659); the three parcel-gilt silver plaques by
an unknown earlier master, possibly a member
of the Lencker family
Oak, pine, walnut, cedar, ebony, and rosewood;
ivory veneer and silver veneer; silver; silver-
gilt moldings; gilded yellow-metal mounts; the
drawers lined with aquamarine-colored silk
H. 28V4 in. (71.8 cm), w. 24'A in. (62.2 cm),
d. 15V4 in. (40 cm)
Marked on the silver base of the left column of
the interior central aedicuia are the interlaced
letters I and S inside an oval and also the
Augsburg town mark for the years 1655-60
Rogers Fund, 1903
03.18

During the sixteenth century, collecting

rare, beautiful, and valuable objects became
a fashionable pursuit among the princes and
wealthiest citizens of the Holy Roman
Empire. Many of their palaces contained a
Fig. 22. General view of the collector's cabinet with the d o o r s closed. Originally the ivory
room called a Kunstkammer or a Kunst- und panels framed by gilded ripple moldings were u n a d o r n e d . T h e engraved figurai decoration
Wunderkammer (chamber for artworks and w a s added in the nineteenth century.

40
 ttaitemuiiuníiiiJUü MÍ ulta—iiA:t»ï,**t-*»4***«t**i***iï|-iWiA,V!*J!i
îilHumnniniiinii.iiiiimij
curiosities). Here the treasures were dis-
played, frequently in a sequence of intercon-
nected spaces dedicated to various fields of
collecting.' The three principal categories
were naturalia (products of nature), artificia-
lia or artefacta (products of the human
hand), and scientifica (scientific instruments,
such as astrolabes and clocks). 2 The inten-
tion was to suggest the wealth and learning
of the collector and to impress foreign guests.
Some collectors of small objects commis-
sioned elaborate cabinets decorated with
semiprecious stones or exotic woods, such as
ebony (see the entry for no. 12), or other
sumptuous material. These pieces were fur-
nished with many drawers and secret com-
partments, which offered diverse storage
opportunities. Some were designed to stand
against a wall in the company of other dis-
play cases. Others stood independently, like
the Metropolitan's example, which is finished
on all sides; this type of cabinet could be said
to represent in miniature format an entire
Kunstkammer, which was itself a metaphor
lni.-liiiH[iiii>utmHitii1m»ri
for the known world in all its diversity.
The Museum's cabinet is completely en-
cased in ivory and has only a few gilded
yellow-metal mounts that are essential for
its use, such as the auricular-style handle on
each side and the key plates (see fig. 22).
The many wooden moldings—on the attic
story and the base, as well as around the ver-
tical panels on the facade—are decorated
with a ripple pattern and gilded. During the
day these would reflect the incoming sun-
light, but at night the myriad silver notches
would catch and intensify every flickering
ray of the candles, giving a satinlike sheen
to the smooth ivory panels. This river of silver
ripples must always have drawn viewers,
like bedazzled moths, to a closer inspection
of the piece.
Exotic ivory, purchased by the ounce like
silver or gold, was prized for its creamy
white, fine-grained surface, which was fre-
quently compared to a woman's skin and
for that reason, perhaps, often used for
implements and requisites of the toilette.
Since the Middle Ages such items were
stored in ivory-decorated boxes, some of the
finest examples of which were made at the
Embriachi workshop in Venice.'
The decoration engraved on the ivory
veneer—large figures representing Wisdom
(left side), Strength and Tolerance (front),
and Knowledge (right side)4 and a wealth of
abstract and naturalistic ornaments—were
probably applied in the second quarter of
the nineteenth century in England. That the
original intention had been to make a
strong contrast between a grand but plain
exterior and a dazzling display concealed
behind the cabinet's doors was not taken
into consideration. The style of the engrav-
ings, especially the rocaille-like formations
in the corners of the doors and the clumsily
stylized Tudor rose on the top, is typical of
the nineteenth-century taste for reviving
earlier stylistic forms and combining them
haphazardly.
The front opens to reveal a pyrotechnical
sparkle of silver and partly gilded applica-
41

Fig. 23. General view of the collector's cabinet with the doors opened. The box standing on the ground
at right has been removed from the central compartment, and the marquetry-decorated panel that
usually conceals it has been placed on the open drawer in the base of the cabinet. That drawer is fitted
with a dressing mirror (standing at left), a game board (partly visible beneath the panel), and compart-
ments for toilette and writing implements.
tions. There are three figurai silver plaques,
three richly carved architectural structures,
and many drawer fronts, each decorated
with ornamental pressed silver foil. The cen-
tral plaque, framed within a columned
aedicula, conceals a door to a compartment
that is veneered on all sides with ebony,
ivory, and other exotic woods in a four-
pointed-star pattern (fig. 23). The back wall
can be removed to access ten drawers of dif-
ferent sizes. A toilette mirror is contained in
the drawer below. In the large base drawer
of the cabinet there is a tablet inlaid with
ivory and exotic woods. This could be used
for writing or gaming. An inkwell, a sander,
and gaming pieces could be stored here in
drawers with a sliding top. The tablet could
also serve as a tray to display precious
objects ordinarily hidden away in the draw-
ers. The attic story is fronted by doors con-
cealing a nest of drawers, and there are
drawers in the sides of the top as well.
Such cabinets were a specialty of the cab-
inetmakers and the goldsmiths of the free
imperial city of Augsburg. These master
craftsmen worked in collaboration under
the supervision of a coordinating merchant
or middleman—a professional much like
the eighteenth-century Parisian marchands-
merciers. The most prolific of these person-
42-
ages was the Augsburg art dealer and court
correspondent Philipp Hainhofer (1578-
1647)/ who is famous for three large and
ingeniously conceived cabinets made to
his specifications in the first third of the
seventeenth century by Ulrich Baumgartner
(ca. 1580-1652). The Museum's cabinet is
a relatively late example, produced in the
unstable period after the end of the Thirty
Years' War, when Augsburg gradually replaced
Nuremberg as the center of goldsmithing in
Central Europe.'
The three large figurai plaques inside the
cabinet are more skillfully worked than the
other silver applications, which are attrib-
uted to the Augsburg silversmith Jeremías
Sibenbürger, whose stamp is on the left col-
umn of the aedicula. CD The plaque framed
by the tabernacle shows Bacchus, the Roman
god of wine.CD On the left door is a plaque
with the figure of Ceres, the goddess of agri-
culture.CD Her cutoff sickle suggests that all
three plaques were trimmed before they
were put in place. The figure on the right
door is Venus, goddess of love.CD The
Mannerist style of the plaques indicates they
were made no later than 1610-25. They are
a tour de force of the goldsmiths' art, dis-
playing a wide range of relief techniques.
Particularly accomplished are the fine dia-
mond stippling in the background and the
fluid repoussé work. They are undoubtedly
the work of a great master, such as one of
the members of the Lencker family.9
The theme of the plaques was in particu-
lar favor at the court of Emperor Rudolph II
(r. 1576-1612),' 0 whose Kunstkammer in
the imperial residence at Prague, inciden-
tally, was perhaps the most encyclopedic of
all. It illustrates a line from The Eunuch,
written in 161 B.C. by the Roman dramatist
Terence, "Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus"
(without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would
freeze), meaning that without food and
wine, love grows cold." Since the figure of
Bacchus is in the center and framed by an
aedicula with full columns, the implication
is that wine trumps both food and love in
the equation; however, Bacchus was also
god of erotic ecstasy, as the seed pattern on
the columns suggests. The intended mean-
ing here may instead be the one expressed in
a verse in the Parvus Mundus, an emblem
book by Laurentius Haechtanus, published
in 1579 in Antwerp: "Where sobriety reigns,
there is fleshy lust, cold as ice; but be plenti-
ful with an abundance of grain, wine, and
beer, and voluptuousness will prevail." 12
The sensuously textured ivory and the
iconography of the silver plaques indicate
that this cabinet was a sophisticated wed-
ding gift furnished with valuables that
included toiletry accessories to remind its
future owner to take care of her beauty and
remember her conjugal obligation to love
her husband and appreciate his attentions. 13
Several similar ivory cabinets from Augs-
burg are known. Melchior Baumgartner, the
son of Ulrich, maker of the three splendid
Hainhofer cabinets, crafted two for the
Munich court, which are today at the
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. One, deco-
rated with lapis lazuli, gilded silver, and
enamel, cost the enormous sum of 3,150
guilders in 1655.' 4 The cabinetry and veneer-
ing of these two princely commissions are of
even higher quality than that of the present
piece, but the Augsburg workshops func-
tioned independent of the courts and were
obliged to make products at different price
levels. A cabinet with similar silver columns
was on the art market in the 1970s,' 5 and
another with related interior marquetry but
incorporating Florentine pietre dure panels
(see the entry for no. 9) was acquired some
years ago by the Rijksmuseum, Amster-
d a m . " A much simpler cabinet with ivory
veneer is in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, 17
and a cabinet of smaller size, possibly
used as a jewelry cabinet, is in the Lemmers-
Danforth Sammlung, Wetzlar.1 WK
I . Wolfram Koeppe, "Collecting for the Kunstkammer,"
Timeline of Art History (online at www.metmuseum.
org).
2. Koeppe Z004, pp. 80-81.
3. Herzog and Ress 1958, col. 1337; Scheicher 1995.
4. Note by Clare Vincent in the archives of the
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative
Arts, Metropolitan Museum, after Cecchini 1976.
5. Gobiet 1984.
6. Kreisel 1968, figs. 382, 383; and Alfter 1986, nos.
26-38.
7. The Augsburg town mark on the Museum's cabinet
is only partly legible; most likely it is the one for the
years 1655-60 (see Seling 1980, no. 90}, although it
could also be the one for 1626-29 ( s e e Seling 1980,
vol. 3, suppl., no. 43). A date in the late 1650s is also
attractive on stylistic grounds, because in the form of
its column capitals and other ornamental details the
14.
Table
French (Paris), ca. 1660
Attributed to Pierre Gole (ca. 1620-1684)
Oak and fruitwood veneered with tortoiseshell,
stained and natural ivory, ebony, and other
woods; gilt-bronze mounts
H. 307/s in. (78.4 cm), w. 41'A in. (104.6 cm),
d. 27 in. (68.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1986
1986.38.1
When it was sold from Mentmore Towers,
Buckinghamshire, in 1977, this exceptional
table was described as in the manner of
Leonardo van der Vinne. A talented artist of
Flemish or Dutch origin, Van der Vinne
made marquetry furniture at the Medici
court in Florence during the second half of
the seventeenth century.' In the mid-1980s,
however, the table was reattributed to Pierre
Gole, 1 based on documentary evidence and
after comparison with a few extant pieces
thought to be by the same hand.
Gole, who was born in Bergen, near
Alkmaar, the Netherlands, went to Paris
about 1643 and there was apprenticed to
Adriaan Garbrand (also recorded as Adrien
Garbrant), a cabinetmaker known for his
work in ebony.3 Having married Garbrand's
daughter Anne in 1645, Gole eventually
took over the workshop. He continued in
Museum's cabinet seems to be related to two cabinets
at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, by
Melchior Baumgartner (see below at n. 14).
8. Seling 1980, no. 1263.
9. On the Lenckers, see Bachtler 1978. For similar
reliefs by Christoph Jamnitzer, see Eikelmann 2002.
10. On the theme of Ceres, Bacchus, and Venus in the
work of Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617), Bartho-
lomäus Spranger ( 1546-1611 ), and the Prague
school, see Nichols 1992, p. 4; and Leeflang et al.
2003, pp. 275-76, no. 9$ (entry by Lawrence W.
Nichols).
11. The Eunuch, bk. 4, I. 732.
12. Renger 1976-78, p. 194. The triad of gods illustrat-
ing Terence's maxim is rarely depicted in the decora-
tive arts, and it appears only on objects of the highest
quality. The best-known adaptations are seen on a
gold beaker of about 1600 by Paulus van Vianen
(i 558-1613) in a private collection and a silver
tankard by the famous Hamburg goldsmith Jürgen
Richels (1641-1710) of about 1680 in the Lemmers-
Danforth Collection, Wetzlar; Koeppe 1992, pp. 4 7 1 -
73, no. GO15, color ill. p. 446. The theme also
appears on an ornamental Flemish or Dutch vase at
the Metropolitan Museum (ace. no. 2000.492; see
"Recent Acquisitions" 2001, p. 32 [entry by Danielle
the manner of his father-in-law, making
large, elaborate cabinets veneered with
ebony. 4 On 26 September 1651 Gole was
named menuisier en esbène ordinaire du roi
(maker of ebony furniture, or ébéniste, to
the king). 5 It was not until the mid-i650s
that this talented master began to specialize
in exquisite floral marquetry, a new and col-
orful type of veneer decoration that put an
end to the fashion for solemn ebony furni-
ture. Gole was one of the first cabinetmak-
ers to work in this new technique and may,
in fact, have introduced it in Paris.
Gole supplied two cabinets decorated
with flowers, birds, and insects in ivory, tor-
toiseshell, and various kinds of woods to
Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661). They
were mentioned in the inventory drawn up
after Mazarin's death in an entry that, most
exceptionally, included the maker's name.
Chief minister to Louis XIV (1638-1715),
Mazarin was a great connoisseur who
amassed an impressive art collection. The
cardinal clearly favored Gole's work because,
not long before his death, he commissioned
the artist to make two important cabinets
as gifts to the king in memory of himself.7
Working primarily at his own shop in the
rue de l'Arbre-Sec but at times also at the
Kisluk-Grosheidej), which was most likely created to
decorate a temporary wooden facade set up in front
of a grand town house on the occasion of a wedding
or the visit of a dignitary, in the tradition of the tri-
umphal arch; see Baarsen et al. 2001, p. 97, no. 27
(entry by Reinier Baarsen}. The iconography of this
piece was identified by the present author.
13. Alfter 1986 does not mention the Museum's cabinet.
It has been published in Kisluk-Grosheide 1994,
p. i 66, fig. 26; and Baarsen 2000a, fig. 16. The latter
offers a lengthy discussion of the cabinet but does
not identify the iconography.
14. Himmelheber 1975; Alfter 1986, nos. 26-38; and
Baumstark and Seling 1994, vol. 2, pp. 272-79,
no. 64 (entry by Lorenz Seelig).
15. Apollo 93 (February 1971), p. 55.
16. Baarsen 2000a, figs. 6, 7; and Baarsen 2000b,
pp. 16-21.
17. Balboni Brizza 1995, p. 60, no. 10. The intarsia pan-
els are a later addition, possibly replacing panels of
silver or semiprecious stones.
18. Koeppe 1992, pp. 238-40, no. M141, color ill.
p. 256.
Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la
Couronne, in the Hôtel des Gobelins, where,
beginning in 1662, furnishings for the royal
residences were produced, Gole received
many commissions from the crown. A well-
known tapestry at the Château de Versailles
recording a royal visit to the manufactory
on 15 October 1667 shows the chief artists
employed there displaying examples of their
work. 8 In the foreground three craftsmen
are carrying a precious table for inspection
by the king. Decorated with elaborate mar-
quetry in a tortoiseshell ground, the table is
thought to be the work of Gole, who him-
self is, almost certainly, depicted behind it.
The table in the tapestry may have been one
of the many pieces by Gole that were des-
tined for Versailles, a hunting lodge that
Louis XIV enlarged and transformed into
his principal residence and in 1682 made
the seat of his court and government.
Since nothing is known about the early
history of the Museum's table, one can only
guess that it was among the more than one
hundred tables, often supplied with a pair
of matching candlestands (guéridons), that
Gole made for the crown.' Its rectangular
top is veneered with tortoiseshell and
divided by decorative bands of ivory and
43
ebony into different segments, in the man-
ner of pietre dure (hardstone) mosaic works,
by which it may have been inspired (fig. 24).
The central motif consists of a four-lobed
cartouche containing a stylized bouquet tied
with a bow-knotted ribbon. The flowers,
executed in different woods and ivory, do
not overlap and have been almost symmetri-
cally arranged. In an attempt to heighten
the sense of naturalism—and to enrich the
vivid color scheme that intensifies the resem-
blance to pietre dure—green-tinted ivory was
chosen for the leaves. Gole was the only cab-
inetmaker working for the French crown to
make such extensive use of this exotic mate-
rial, both colored and in its natural state. 10
Several of the ornamental borders appear
to be characteristic features of the artist's
44
oeuvre. Examples are the band of ivory and
tortoiseshell laurel leaves running along the
edge of the tabletop and the large and small
circles of ivory and ebony on the frieze and
along the sides of the double-Y-shaped
stretcher that joins the legs." The ebony
and ivory decoration on the stretcher seems
to be composed of the leftovers from the
decorations on the frieze, which are more
beautiful and legible, suggesting that the
ébéniste made frugal use of the expensive
materials. The four tapering, columnar legs,
which are also considered to be typical of
Gole's work, end in ebony bun feet deco-
rated with ivory stringing. They display sim-
ulated fluting of ivory above and floral
marquetry below. The Tuscan capitals, the
ring moldings or so-called astragals, and the
bases—all of which are crafted of gilded
bronze—must have been ordered elsewhere,
for Gole's workshop did not have a foundry.
The Museum's table is thought to date
about 1660 because a very similar table was
listed in Mazarin's inventory of 1661. Since
it was not mentioned in an inventory of the
cardinal's possessions drawn up in 1653,
the table must have entered his collection
after that year. The description of Mazarin's
table includes a reference to a marquetry
butterfly above the central bouquet, possi-
bly about to alight on one of the flowers.12.
This creature is not present on the Museum's
piece, which does, however, include a moth-
like insect in one of the outer borders. 0
During the nineteenth century this richly
decorated piece of furniture was at Ment-
more Towers, the stately mansion built by
the architect Joseph Paxton (i801-1865)
for Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild
(1818-1874). It was probably among the
many French furnishings that the baron
acquired for Mentmore, but this is not doc-
umented. In 1874 his only daughter, Hannah
(1851-1890), inherited the house as well as
her late father's fortune. She and her hus-
band, Archibald Philip Primrose, the fifth
earl of Rosebery (1847-1929), a liberal
politician who served as England's prime
minister in 1894-95, added considerably to
the Mentmore collections, making them
world renowned. 13 The table could have
been one of their purchases. A catalogue of
the contents of Mentmore published in
1884 listed in the library a French "table
inlaid with marqueterie" of "the Louis XIII
period." This may possibly have been the
one now attributed to Gole. 14 DK-G
Fig. 24. Top of the table.
1. Catalogue of a sale by Sotheby Parke Bernet on
behalf of the executors of the sixth earl of Rosebery,
Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, vol. 1, 18-20 May
1977, pp. 276-77, lot 875.
2. Lunsingh Scheurleer 1984, pp. 336-37, figs. 17, 18.
The table was first published in an entry by James
Parker in Metropolitan Museum of Art 1986,
pp. 28-29, and most recently in Lunsingh Scheurleer
2005, pp. 81, 90-91, 251, figs. 44, 50, 51.
3. For information about Gole, see Lunsingh Scheurleer
2005.
4. One of these pieces is thought to be in the collection
of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. See Lunsingh
Scheurleer 1993, pp. 82, 84, fig. 2; and Baarsen
2000b, pp. 48-53* figs. 55-59-
5. Ronfort 1985, pp. 36, 38.
6. Lunsingh Scheurleer 1980, p. 380.
7. Ibid., pp. 380, 384. These cabinets have not been
preserved.
8. The tapestry belongs to the ambitious Story of the
King series woven at the Gobelins Manufactory start-
ing in 1665; Meyer 1980a, pp. 109-16.
9. A list of furnishings supplied by Gole to the crown is
given Ín Lunsingh Scheurleer 2005, pp. 231-38.
10. A small table attributed to Gole in the collection of
the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, is decorated
with blue-tinted wood on an ivory ground, in imita-
tion of porcelain; see G. Wilson 1985, pp. 61-66.
11. These borders are also found on a cabinet on stand
attributed to Gole in the collection of the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London; see Wilk 1996, pp. 66-
67 (entry by Carolyn Sargentson). See also a cabinet
in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Baarsen 2000b,
pp. 52-55, figs. 60-62.
12. "Une table d'escaille de tortue profilée et presque
toute couverte d'ornemens d'ivoire, au milieu de
laquelle est un grand ovale à quatre angles dans
lequel est un bouquet de diverses fleurs de bois et
d'ivoire liez d'un ruban de bois au dessus duquel est
un papillon aussy de bois; avecq son pied à quatre
collomnes d'escaille de tortue profilées d'ivoire par la
moitié et l'autre moitié de fleurs de bois, dont les
bases, astragalles et chappitaux sont de cuivre doré.
Longue de trois pieds six poulces, large de deux pieds
quatre poulces." This description of Mazarin's table
in the 1661 inventory is quoted in Lunsingh
Scheurleer 1984, p. 336.
13. See Sir Francis Watson's introduction to the Ment-
more sale catalogue, vol. 1, pp. ix-xiii.
14. Mentmore 1884, vol. 2, p. 63, no. 72. In addition,
"numerous tables of marqueterie and boule" stood
against the walls of the Gallery; Mentmore 1884,
vol. 2, p. 152.
15-

Showcase on stand (scarabattola)

Italian (Rome), late seventeenth century

Walnut; carved, painted, and gilded linden wood;
mirror glass
H. 91 in. (231.1 cm), w. 60 in. (152.4 cm),
d. 24'A in. (62.2 cm)
Gift of Madame Lilliana Teruzzi, 1972
1972.73
With its strong sculptural character and
striking theatricality, this vitrine, or scara-
battola, is a beautiful example of Roman
Baroque furniture.' Strictly symmetrical in
its decoration, the piece consists of an upper
section, the actual display cabinet with its
glazed doors and splayed sides, and the
stand below, with its bearded atlas who
seems to carry the weight of the top noncha-
lantly on his extended palms. This entirely
gilded figure is kneeling on the representa-
tion of a rocky ground that has been painted
dark green and has tufts of gilded grass.CD A
sense of dynamism is achieved through the
muscularity of his slightly twisted body, the
luxurious curls, and the swirling drapery
that conceals his nudity. The atlas is framed
by a large floral swag extending from the
corners at the back of the vitrine down to
objects. Between 1726 and 172.9, for in-
stance, the carver Anton Francesco Gonnelli
(1688-1735) executed three impressive sca-
rabattole to hold the amber and ivory collec-
tions of the Medici grand dukes in Florence.3
More than utilitarian pieces of furniture,
these splendid vitrines became works of art
in their own right. The mirrored inner back
of the Museum's cabinet makes it possible
to view simultaneously from the front and
from behind the treasures placed inside and,
through reflection, doubles them in number.
Unfortunately, little is known about the
early history of this important display case.
It came to the Museum as the gift of Lilliana
Teruzzi, one of the Metropolitan's more
colorful benefactors.4 Born Lilliana Weinman,
she became an opera singer known profes-
sionally as Lilliana Lorma and performed in
Europe during the 19x0s and 1930s, when
she was briefly married to the Italian
Fascist general Attilio Teruzzi (1882-1950).
According to the donor, she acquired this
piece of furniture in 1933 from Prince
Cesare Ludovico Ottoboni (b. 1888). He
was a descendant of a prestigious noble
Pietro Ottoboni (1667-1740) among its
members. The latter was a great patron
of the arts, whose opulent Roman residence,
the palace of the Cancelleria, was described
by Pietro Rossini in a contemporary guide-
book, Mercurio errante delle grandezze di
Roma (1693), a s o n e °f t n e most culturally
active courts in Rome. 5 It is known that
Ottoboni had several cases for medals,
and others to hold his large collection of
medallions; in the absence of further docu-
mentation, one can only wonder if the .
Museum's piece was one of these cabinets.
At the time of his death Cardinal Ottoboni
left more than four hundred paintings,
most of which he had inherited from Pope
Alexander VIII, as well as many debts. As a
result, his art collections and the furnishings
of his palace were immediately dispersed. 7
DK-G
1. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, p. 259 (entry by
Penelope Hunter-Stiebel).
2. Walker 1999, pp. 3-6.
3. Colle 1997, pp. 82-83, Pis- XVIII, XIX, pp. 180-85,
nos. 52, 53 (entries by Enrico Colle).
4. See Draper 1994, pp. 20-21.

the base. Directing the viewer's attention to family who counted Pope Alexander VIII 5. Olszewski 1999, p. 93.

( 1610-1691 ) and his grandnephew Cardinal 6. Olszewski 2004, pp. 16, 221.
the central crest ornament, four joyfully ges-
7. Olszewski 1989, p. 33.
ticulating putti perched on the cabinet with
their festoons of flowers create a feeling of
vivacity and movement (fig. 25), while in
the center a female mask set against a large
scrolling cartouche augments the overall
sculptural richness.CD Additional gilded carv-
ing, in the form of winged caryatids with
feathered headdresses emerging from pen-
dant floral swags, embellishes the stiles of
the cabinet.
The painter, architect, and preeminent
sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
exerted a profound influence on the decora-
tive arts of the Roman Baroque. 2 His novel
use of color is reflected in the strong contrast
between the walnut and the gilded and
painted surfaces of this cabinet. The sense of
movement and emotion that the artist
instilled in his figurai compositions is most
clearly echoed here in the effortless strength
of the atlas and in the frolicking putti.
Showcases of this kind were commis- Fig. 2.5. Detail of the
sioned to hold an array of small precious crest of the showcase
on stand.

46
47
16.
Mirror frame
German (Danzig, now Gdansk, Poland),
ca. 1680-1700
Dark-stained pine; replaced mirror glass
H. 75 in. (190.5 cm), w. 64 in. (162.6 cm),
d. 4 in. (10.2 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1967
67.171
Large parade mirrors became increasingly
fashionable throughout Europe during the
Baroque period, and they were often con-
ceived as part of an ensemble, with match-
ing console tables and candlestands. This
development was supported by technical
advances that made it possible to produce
larger plates of mirror glass and driven by
the ambition of princes to imitate the mag-
nificent Galerie des Glaces in the suite of
state rooms at Versailles, created in 1 6 8 1 -
84 by Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) for
Louis XIV of France.'
At the end of the seventeenth century,
goods and artistic ideas flowed through
northeastern Europe along trade routes that
connected English and Netherlandish ports
with the cities along the Baltic Sea and
points east. The latest fashions were eagerly
received and copied as closely as local
craftsmen could manage and local patrons
could afford. This mirror was once believed
to be of Dutch origin, 2 but its putti nestled
among a tangle of jaggedly lobed acanthus
leaves have proved to be very similar to
works in wood by the cabinetmakers and
virtuoso carvers of the independent town of
Danzig, one of the most prosperous trade
centers on the Baltic seacoast and a gateway
to Russia. Large quantities of household
goods, such as Dutch case furniture and
English chairs, 3 were imported into Danzig
during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, as were luxury items like the popular
Chinese blue-and-white porcelains. The
grotesque dragon-monsters on this mirror,
with their intriguingly intertwined necks and
long tails, were obviously inspired by the
decorations on the porcelain exported from
East Asia.CD Dragons have been part of both
Eastern and Western imagery for millennia,
but seventeenth-century European craftsmen
were probably unaware of their symbolism
as water deities in the East and of Satan in
the West.
48
This frame offers an ingenious combina- symbolized love since antiquity, and doves
tion of decorations from both traditions. bespeak constancy, as well. Thus, these
The elements of chinoiserie are dominated winged boys and these birds are the chief
by the acanthus-leaf ornament, however, attributes of Venus, goddess of erotic love. 10
which was especially popular in Europe at This theme is extended by the small figures
just the time this mirror was made. 4 The of a satyr and a satyress, who brazenly
plant's twisting and luxuriant pattern of inhabit the big acanthus volutes (fig. 26).
growth fulfilled the Baroque period's desire Such mythological creatures were regarded
for ornate and extravagant ornamentation. as symbols of decadence and sexual
The acanthus designs by the French debauchery. Therefore, this radiant work of
engraver Jean Le Pautre (1618-1682) and art may have been a wedding present whose
by his follower Paul Androuet Ducerceau purpose was both to delight and also to cau-
(1630-1710) 5 were adapted and exagger- tion the recipient as to the danger of excess.
ated by such ornamentists in the German- Mirror frames carved—sculpted might
speaking world as the Viennese court be the better term—with such virtuosity are
cabinetmaker Johann Indau (1651-1690) 6 rare. A design for a looking glass by Andrea
and the Augsburg masters Johann Unselt Brustolon (1660-1732), of about 1690, in
and Johann Conrad Reuttimann. 7 In the Museo Civico in Belluno shows a simi-
Bohemia and parts of Silesia, acanthus dec- lar, intricately carved frame. An annotation
oration was taken to an unprecedented on the drawing states that "the left side is
extreme in the altarpieces called Akan- devoted to the Arts and Sciences, the right
thusaltäre. These were conceived in the pure to Valour, and it is crowned with an alle-
spirit of ornamental fantasy, as the rioting gory of Love."" A print published in Graz,
vegetation completely conceals the function Austria, in 1679 by Matthias Echter (1653-
of the objects it decorated. 8 In the entrance 1701/3) showing a related putti-populated
and banquet halls of grand town houses the acanthus frame with agitated openwork
acanthus crept across chairs, tables, and rinceaux may have inspired a similar carved
large armoires and up staircases and along
wall paneling; in the form of stucco ornament
it also decorated ceilings. The result was an
impressive decorative unity that transmitted a
feeling of lushness and prosperity, which
reflected the owner's social status. 9
A rich and varied display of acanthus
ornament covers the structural elements of
the Museum's piece. Bold sprays on the
sides break up its rectangular shape, and
shorter tendrils frame the uprising crest, giv-
ing it that expressive contour so characteris-
tic of the late Baroque style. Almost hidden
in the leaves are small figures with symbolic
meaning. Several putti hold the dragons'
tails, and others face a double-headed eagle
and a goat located in the crest.CD The
eagle may refer to the Holy Roman Empire.
The goat undoubtedly is the heraldic device
of the mirror's first owner, but since the
rampant goat is featured in the coat of arms
of many noble families in Danzig, Pomer-
ania, and Mecklenburg, this person has not
been identified. Putti and doves, which flank Fig. 26. Detail of the left side of the mirror frame
the crest and peer out of the leaves, have showing a satyr on a c a n t h u s leaves.
49
wooden example in the Museo Correr in 1. Olga Raggio in Raggio et al. 1989, p. 6, fig. 7. 6. Ibid., no. 106'off.

Venice.12 An English frame in the collection
of the marquess of Exeter is decorated with
putti, floral elements, and acanthus foliage,
and its carver was probably influenced by
designs of the English wood-carver Grinling
Gibbons (1648-1721). 13 An elaborate Dutch
boxwood mirror frame of the late seven-
teenth century is preserved in the Museum
für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg.' 4 WK
2. Note in the archives of the Department of European 7. Reinhardt 1996, pp. 130, 146.
Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum. 8. Hamperl and Rohner 1984.
For a Dutch example, see the entry for no. 20, a paint-
9. C. H. Baer 1912, figs. 104, 105 (left). A splendid
ing frame adapted as mirror. See also Raggio 1994,
example of rich acanthus decoration is in the historic
p. 12, fig. 9 (where she describes the mirror as from
Danzig, following a file note by the present writer).
town hall of Gdansk.
10. Hall 1979, p. 10.
3. Behling 1942; Koeppe 1992, p. 161, no. M91,
11. Honour 1965 b, p. 71, fig. 224.
p. 165, no. M94, color ill. p. 241; and North and
Snapper 1990. 12. Reinhardt 1996, p. 130.
4. Reinhardt 1996, p. 130. 13. Coleridge 1965, p. 89, fig. 300.
14. Möller 1962.
5. Berliner and Egger 1981, vol. 3, nos. iio5ff. and
II24ÍÍ.

17-

Writing desk (bureau brisé)

French, ca. 1685

Designed and possibly engraved by Jean Bérain
(1638/39-1711); made by Alexandre-Jean
Oppenordt (1639-1715)
Oak, pine, and walnut veneered with ebony,
rosewood, and marquetry of engraved brass on
tortoiseshell; gilt-bronze moldings; steel hinges
H. 30V8 in. (77.2 cm); w. 41V4 in. (106 cm);
d. 23^/8 in. (59.4 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1986
1986.365.3

In the early 1660s the young Louis XIV

(1638-1715) and his chief minister, Jean-
Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), decided to
set up an establishment where paintings,
sculptures, furniture, and tapestries for the
French royal palaces would be manufac-
tured. Their plan was to improve the quality
of French luxury goods in order to reduce
the number of foreign imports, thereby bol-
stering the French economy. They also
planned to turn the focus of French art on
the glorification of the king, a strategy that
Fig. 2 7 . General view of the writing desk with the hinged t o p opened.
was part of a long struggle for power
between the monarchy and the aristocracy.
Various workshops were brought together
at the site of the former premises of the other workers of the greatest abilities in all bureaux. It was he who built the "golden
Gobelins family of dyers in Paris, and the of the fine and decorative arts. . . . The cage" in which the king captured the aris-
hugely talented Charles Le Brun (1619- works that such artists produce there out- tocracy. In the exquisitely furnished palaces
1690) was named director. In an edict of shine the art and beauty of the most pre- of Versailles, the Grand Trianon, and Marly,
1667, the king officially established the fac- cious things from foreign countries."' Louis created "a pattern of expensive daily
tory as the Manufacture Royale des Meubles Le Brun tightly controlled the output of living that kept the aristocracy [who were]
de la Couronne. In the words of his edict, the many artisans working at the Gobelins seeking preferments constantly occupied,"
the Gobelins workers included "the painters and at the Louvre workshop, insisting on completely focused on his will and his wishes
of greatest reputation, tapestry weavers, the highest standards of quality for every- as absolute monarch. 2 The court became a
sculptors, goldsmiths, cabinetmakers and thing produced there, from bibelots to showcase for the style known as Louis

50
Quatorze, which was dominant in Europe
until the eighteenth century.3
Sumptuous marquetry furniture was one
specialty of the Gobelins and the Louvre
workshop that cabinetmakers in other coun-
tries tried to copy, rarely with success.
Workshops outside of France lacked the
technical know-how, not to mention the
huge sums needed to buy the inlay materi-
als. Exceptionally costly were pieces like the
present writing desk that are veneered with
tortoiseshell and brass or pewter. They
became known by the name of their most
illustrious maker, André-Charles Boulle
(1642-1732), who was given a workshop at
the Galerie du Louvre in 1672. 4 He did not
invent the boulle-work technique (which
was made possible by the introduction of
the fretsaw "some time around the 1620s,
well before . . . Boulle himself . . . was
born"), 5 but he added to its perfection by
enshrining the marquetry in an ostentatious
cage of ormolu mounts (see the entries for
nos. 25,31).
This writing desk is one of the few docu-
mented objects made for the private use of
Louis XIV at Versailles. The form is called
bureau brisé, literally "broken desk," because
the hinged front half of the flat top can be
flipped back, or "broken," to reveal a narrow
51
 Fig. 28. "Grand only small areas of engraving survive to sug-
Cabinet" with ^Writing gest the beauty of the surface when new.
Desk and Mirror, late
seventeenth century. The interior of the desk is veneered with
Pen drawing. exotic, fine-grained rosewood, whose sober
Bibliothèque de la sheen makes a fine contrast with the red-
Conservation,
underpainted tortoiseshell and glittering
Versailles.
brass on the outside.CD Although it was con-
sidered a special honor to work for the
royal household, there were disadvantages:
documents reveal that the locks for this
desk were supplied in 1685 by the serrurier
Pierre Roger, who was not compensated for
his work until 1691. 13
In the posthumous inventory of Louis
XIV's possessions, compiled in 1718, the
writing surface (fig. 27). The latter can be of the monarchy in a novel way. At each Museum's desk and its companion piece
extended by a fall-front panel which—in its corner of the desk is an oversize fleur-de-lis, have been identified as number 516.' 4 A
upright position—simulates on the outside the symbol of France; this placement grace- generation later, in 1751, they were consid-
a sequence of three false drawers. The bureau fully suggests that Louis's kingdom ex- ered old-fashioned, and even the fact that
brisé and its variants, possibly based on the tended to the "four corners of the earth." Q they had almost certainly been used by the
innovations of the cabinetmaker Pierre Gole At either end of the table is yet another ref- Sun King himself did not guarantee them a
(ca. 1620-1684), who delivered the first of erence to the Sun King: the lyre of Apollo. place in the royal collection. In July of that
many examples to the crown in 1669, were at The designer of this sophisticated pattern year they were purchased by different buy-
some point in the nineteenth century dubbed was Jean Bérain, who trained as an en- ers, together with their protective red
bureaux Mazarins, despite the absence of any graver. Berain may even have had a hand in leather covers, at a sale of the king's furni-
evidence that Cardinal Mazarin (who died tooling the engravings on the inlay;' 2 sadly, ture.' 5 The Museum's desk, veneered in the
in 1661) could ever have penned his letters
on such a piece. 7 Contemporary illustra-
tions document the use of these desks as
dressing tables, surmounted by a mirror and
sometimes flanked by candlestands (see fig.
28). From the bureau brisé form, too, there
emerged one of the best-known types of
parade furniture, the bureau plat, or flat-
surfaced writing desk (see the entry for
no. 57), which even today is a symbol of
power and influence in executive offices.9
Tortoiseshell forms the ground for the
brass inlay decoration of this desk. The cab-
inetmaker was a relatively unknown Dutch-
born craftsman named Alexandre-Jean
Oppenordt. He had become a French citizen
in 1679 and entered the service of the king in
1684 at the Louvre workshops.'° On 25 July
of the following year he received a payment
for this desk and a matching example, in
which brass forms the ground for the tor-
toiseshell inlay. Both were intended for the
king's personal study at Versailles." The
elaborate decoration on the desktop fea-
tures Louis's crowned monogram of inter-
laced L's beneath a radiant sun symbol
engraved with a now indistinct Apollo's
mask (fig. 29). These royal emblems are sur-
rounded by a cartouche of symmetrical
arabesque scrolls and a rambling vine orna-
ment that plays with the traditional motifs Fig. 29. Detail of the royal emblems inlaid on the top of the writing desk.

5*
more stylish première partie manner, with a
bright inlay in a dark ground, did not resur-
face until 1984, when it was consigned by a
Texas collector to a New York auction
house and sold to a Paris dealer. Its origins
as a piece of royal furniture had been for-
gotten. 1 The whereabouts of the second
desk are unknown; it was sold in a much
altered state of preservation from the collec-
tion of Lady Juliet Duff in 1963. 1? WK
1. "Edict du Roi" (1667), Archives Nationales, Paris,
O 1 2040 . Cited (in translation) from Stürmer 1986,
p. 240. See also Alcouffe and De Bellaigue 1981,
pp. 28, 42; and Koeppe 1996, p. 181 and figs. 2a,b.
2. R. Gordon Alden, "Patronage," sec. 12 of "France,"
18.
Wig cabinet (cabinet de toilette)
German, ca. 1685
Johann Daniel Sommer II (1643-fafter 1692)
Oak and walnut veneered with ebony, ebonized
wood, and marquetry of pewter and mother-
of-pearl on horn over paint, simulating tortoise-
shell; silver; brocaded damask not original to
the wig cabinet
H. 16 in. (40.6 cm), w. 18 in. (45.7 cm),
d. 13'A in. (34.3 cm)
Purchase, Rogers Fund and Cynthia Hazen
Polsky Gift, 2004
2004.417
This wig cabinet is one of the most elabo-
rate examples of its kind, a work of great
refinement and supreme craftsmanship.'
The exterior is decorated with extremely
fine boulle marquetry, which retains many
of the original engraved details. 1 Further-
more, it is an early example of the migration
of this type of metal-and-tortoiseshell (or
horn) marquetry and the High Baroque
style in French furniture to the German-
speaking cultural areas (see the entries for
nos. 14, 17). It is obvious that the creator of
this cabinet, Johann Daniel Sommer II,
occupies a key position in the history of
European furniture-making. Unfortunately,
the most important facts about his career
remain obscure. He was born in 1643 into a
dynasty of craftsmen. His grandfather was a
carpenter, and his father, Eberhardt Sommer
(1610-1677), worked as a carpenter, mas-
ter builder, and gunmaker in the Franconian
town of Kiinzelsau beginning in 1642. Other
in Dictionary of Art 1996, vol. 11, pp. 560-62.
3. Germer 1997; and Bettag 1998.
4. On this type of marquetry, see the entry for no. 18.
5. Chastang 2001, pp. 17-20, 26-35. 1 a m most grate-
ful to Yannick Chastang, London, and to Mechthild
Baumeister, Conservator, Department of Objects
Conservation, Metropolitan Museum, for discussing
different types of marquetry at length with me.
6. On Gole, see the entry for no. 14.
7. Fleming and Honour 1989, p. 137.
8. P. Thornton 1990, p. 30, fig. 31, and p. 45; and
Koeppe 1996, p. 181, fig. 3.
9. H. Graf 1989.
10. Archives Nationales, Paris, O' 1082. On Oppenordt
and this desk, see James Parker in Raggio et al. 1989,
pp. 14-15. See also Ronfort 1986.
11. This study, called the Petit Cabinet, was in the north
wing of the building; see James Parker Ín Raggio
et al. 1989, p. 15. Guiffrey 1881-1901, vol. 2,
col. 761, lists the payment as follows: "25 juillet
members of the family are documented as
skillful craftsmen and gifted sculptors. 3
Johann Daniel married in Kiinzelsau in
1667 and lived there until 1679. Then he
sold his properties and moved to an
unknown destination. One of his elaborate
pieces, a traveling apothecary made for Karl
August, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
(1663-1731), contains silver utensils
stamped with the Augsburg town mark for
1692-1700. One of these objects, a mortar,
is dated 1692. By the late 1600s, however,
Augsburg silver, especially sets of toiletry
and pharmaceutical items, was esteemed all
over Germany; thus, the assumption that
Sommer lived in Augsburg must remain
speculative. Besides, in Augsburg Sommer
could not have used painted horn as a sub-
stitute for tortoiseshell as is done in the
Museum's piece. The town guaranteed the
quality of its luxury goods and ruled that
"nobody should be deceived with ox-horn." 4
It is inconceivable that the Museum's wig
cabinet could have been realized without
firsthand knowledge of contemporary
French designs and marquetry and cabinet-
making techniques. Sommer most likely
gained experience in Paris during his jour-
neyman's travels before returning to
Kiinzelsau. In the French capital he may
have worked with a man named Jacques
Sommer, a supposed relative who is men-
tioned as a cabinetmaker there until 1669.
[1685]: à Jean Oppenor, ébéniste, pour comparti-
mens faits aux deux bureaux du petit cabinet de S.[a]
M.[ajestéJ . . . 240 [livres]" (On 25 July [1685]: to
Jean Oppenor, cabinetmaker, 240 livres for making
two writing desks for the small study of His Majesty).
12. Brevet, 29 October 1679, Archives Nationales, Paris,
O 1 105 1 , p. 431. See also Ronfort 1986, p. 49. For
Bérain's design, see Pons 1996, p. 167.
13. Guiffrey 1881-1901, vol. 3, col. 524.
14. No. 516 is discussed in Guiffrey 1885-86, vol. 2,
p. 175.1 am grateful to Florian Knothe, Annette
Kade Art History Fellow, 2005-2006, Metropolitan
Museum, for this archival information. See also
Ronfort 1986, pp. 47, 49; and Kisluk-Grosheide
2005, pp. 66-67.
15. Ronfort 1986, pp. 48-49,
16. Catalogue of a sale at Christie's, New York,
21 November 1984, lot 194.
17. Catalogue of the Lady Juliet Duff collection sale,
Sotheby's, London, 12 July 1963, lot 163.
His widow continued the workshop, receiv-
ing a last payment in 1683. 5 He supplied
Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661) and
other members of the French court with
elaborately decorated sets of furniture that
included a mirror, matching table, and two
candlestands. Alternatively, Georg Himmel-
heber has suggested that Johann Daniel
Sommer may have worked closely with the
French royal cabinetmaker Pierre Gole (ca.
1620-1684); he mentions a table by Gole in
the Museum's collection (no. 14 in this
book) as a possible link.6 By the early 1660s
Gole and his workshop were producing
intricately inlaid furniture for the royal
household of the Sun King. Whether
Sommer ever worked with the great French
marqueteur André-Charles Boulle (1642-
1732) is not known. Boulle, only three
months older than Sommer, became a mas-
ter no earlier than 1666, by which time
Sommer must have returned to Germany,
for that year he supplied a game board and
a dated and signed table to Count Albrecht
von Hohenlohe-Langenburg. 7 It seems clear
that Boulle and Sommer were influenced by
an older master, probably Gole, but why so
gifted a cabinetmaker and ornamentist as
Sommer returned to his provincial roots
instead of becoming a celebrated ébéniste in
Paris like so many other German journeymen
remains a mystery. The famous tapestry
depicting a visit of Louis XIV to the court
53
furniture workshop at Gobelins in 1667 illus-
trates a red (perhaps tortoiseshell) table with
elaborate marquetry thought to be by Gole.
It is extremely similar to Sommer's table of
1666 for Count Albrecht. The only notice-
able difference is that the table seen in the
tapestry has opulent gilt-bronze mounts,
whereas Sommer's table has very refined but
simpler pewter moldings. The tortoiseshell
and metal marquetry applied to both pieces
was probably produced by the same tech-
nique. Sheets of tortoiseshell and metal were
stacked together, a design was laid on the top
sheet, and then all the sheets in the stack
were cut together. The cutouts could be
54
assembled in master patterns of light material
set in a dark ground (première partie) or dark
material on a light ground (contre partie).9 It
can be assumed that Sommer introduced this
technique to Germany; moreover, the date on
Count Albrecht's table suggests that Sommer
may have played a major role in the develop-
ment of this marquetry style in Paris while
employed at Gole's workshop. If he was
apprenticed as a boy in Germany to his
uncle Johann Eberhart Sommer (1614-1693),
who made guns richly inlaid with silver or
pewter designs, Johann Daniel may have
acquired metalworking skills before travel-
ing to Paris. 10 It is not difficult to imagine
the nephew transforming his uncle's playful
volutes into his own signature zigzags.
The Museum's wig cabinet, with a lid in
the style of a Chinese pagoda as an exotic
detail, was a portable repository for that
essential item of formal masculine attire, the
wig. Dressing the hair and adjusting the wig
were an important part of a gentleman's
morning toilette, or lever,11 when he was
accustomed to receive the most important
guests of the day as a special gesture of per-
sonal appreciation. As the occasion was
public, all the accessories on the dressing
table had to reflect the owner's taste and
status. The extensive use of polished pewter
 of the Museum's wig cabinet. His full coat
of arms appears on a carved ivory cartouche
that surmounts the pediment over the center
of the cabinet's facade. The cabinet can be
identified in various inventories of the Gut-
tenberg family and was recently acquired by
the Würth Collection in Kiinzelsau, the
town where Johann Daniel Sommer was
born and spent much of his life.
Currently no more than twelve objects
can be securely attributed to Sommer. The
wig cabinet is undoubtedly one of the finest
and best-preserved examples, all of which
were made during the first vigorous phase
of the expansion of luxury furniture-making
in Central Europe. Furniture with boulle
marquetry (let us call it "Sommer mar-
quetry" in this case, since it was executed
Fig. 30. Detail of the top of the wig cabinet. In the center of the inlay is the cipher of Prince-Bishop long before Boulle gained fame) became
Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg under lily-of-the-valley sprays. His initials, "JVG," appear twice, in
a mirror image of each other.

(presumably in imitation of silver) and the

precious silver mounts on this wig cabinet
made it impossible that the object should
escape the eye of any visitor.12
In its form—an elongated octagonal
compartment mounted on a stepped base—
the wig cabinet is typically South German.' 3
When the cabinet appeared on the art mar-
ket in 1996, it was attributed to Ferdinand
Plitzner (1678-1724),' 4 who may have
studied with Sommer. ' ' The key to identify-
ing the patron, to attributing the work firmly
to Johann Daniel Sommer, and to dating it
at about 1685 are the cipher "JVG" on the
cabinet's hinged lid (fig. 30) and the stylized
rose that appears in the center of several of
the marquetry panels.CD Both refer to
Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg (1654-
1698), prince-bishop of Würzburg and duke
of Franconia. The rose is part of the Gutten-
berg coat of arms. The use of the prince-
bishop's monogram without the Guttenberg
arms and the fact that the rose is almost
hidden among the other marquetry decora-
tions indicate that Guttenberg considered
the wig cabinet a very personal item. Much
more elaborately decorated but with almost
identical ornamental details is a collector's
cabinet, dated 1685, that the prince-bishop
purchased from Sommer (fig. 3 1 ) . " This
cabinet, which stood in the public rooms of
the episcopal palace, shows Johann Gott-
fried's official cipher as prince-bishop and Fig. 31. Collector's cabinet by Johann Daniel Sommer II, dated 1685. Pewter, tortoiseshell, ivory,
duke on the central door, under a canopy of mother-of-pearl; 483/s x 45'A x 20Vi in. Reinhold Würth Collection, Kiinzelsau. The door is inlaid
with the initials and abbreviated official title of Prince-Bishop Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg
lily-of-the-valley sprays that resembles the
under lily-of-the-valley sprays. The interlaced letters are "JGEHFOD" (Johannes Godefridus
one crowning the bishop's cipher on the lid Episcopus Herbipolensis [ac] Franciae [ac] Orientalis Dux).

55
very highly regarded in the south German
princely courts of the late Baroque period.
i. Havard 1887-90, vol. 4, cols. 1431-50. Based on
extensive archival research and his familiarity with
personal correspondence of the period, Alain Gruber
has determined that many richly embellished boxes
with only one large compartment dating from about
1650 to about 1750 were originally intended for the
storage of wigs. Frequently decorated with gilded
mounts and extravagant inlay, including pietre dure,
these boxes are often mistakenly described as jewelry
caskets. Dr. Gruber was kind enough to discuss this
topic with me in New York on 16 November 2004.
2. The drawer locks may once have had massive silver
plates, which were removed and melted down, most
likely during the Napoleonic wars. The keyholes
were subsequently filled with silver rosettes decorated
with engraved lotus leaves; see the conservation
report in the archives of the Department of European
Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
3. Grünenwald 1951-52, p. 280; and Kraut 1988, p. 36.
4. Alfter 1986, p. 91.
5. Guiffrey 1881-1901, vol. 2, col. 391. See also
Knothe 2002, pp. 28-36, on Sommer's widow and
their daughter Catherine Sommer, who married the
cabinetmaker Philippe Poitou {ca. 1640-1709).
6. Himmelheber 1988, pp. 124, fig. 5 (the Museum's
piece by Gole), 125, figs. 6, 7 (pieces by Gole
inspired by Sommer).
7. Ibid., p. 125.
8. The tapestry is illustrated in Raggio et al. 1989,
pp. 4-5, fig. 5. On p. 52 of Pradère 1989, there is
a detail illustration of the tapestry that includes
the table.
9. The technique was being used in Germany for mar-
quetry in wood almost two generations earlier, as a
South German buffet dated 1573 and other sixteenth-
century pieces from Ulm and Cologne demonstrate;
see Koeppe 1992, pp. 118-20, 120-22, 126-27, n o s -
M53, M54, M60, color ills. pp. 250, 257.
10. Braun 1988, p. 144, fig. 5.
11. Havard 1887-90, vol. 4, cols. 1431-50; and
P. Thornton 1990, pp. 230-33.
12. On the special pewter alloy used in the marquetry,
see the condition report on the wig cabinet dated
30 September 2004 in the archives of the Department
of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
13. Koeppe 1992, p. 206, no. M107, color ill. p. 250,
and p. 242, M142, color ill. p. 257.
14. Catalogue of a sale at Sotheby's, New York,
12 January 1996, lot 1044 (described as South
German). See also Medieval and Renaissance
Sculpture 1997 (in which the cabinet is attributed to
Ferdinand Plitzner). The object was acquired by a
Los Angeles private collector who subsequently lent
it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art until
2004, when it was acquired by the Metropolitan.
15. On Plitzner's connections with Sommer, see Kreisel
and Himmelheber 1983, pp. 82-90; Koeppe 1996,
p. 184, no. 276; and Loescher 1997.
16. Angelmaier, Freyer, and Huber 2004.

19.

Armchair

English, ca. 1685-88 have belonged (fig. 32). It would probably throughout its history. The back was origi-
Walnut; covered in modern velvet have been used only on ceremonial occa- nally upholstered and the seat caned. When
H. 57 in. (144.8 cm), w. 30% in. (78.1 cm),
sions by the chairman of the company. acquired in 1918, it had casters, and there
d. 19V4 in. (50.2 cm)
The chair has experienced some changes was evidence that it had originally been
On the top rail is the crest of James II and
Mary of Modena.
John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1918

This armchair is the finest example of its

type and period in the Museum. In the cen-
ter of the crest atop its back is a cipher with
the initials of King James II of England
(1633-1701) and of his consort, Mary
Beatrice, a princess of the house of Este
(1658-1718), held by a lion and a unicorn,
the royal supporters of England and
Scotland.CD The shell, a device of King
James's, and the eagle, an attribute of his
consort, also appear prominently: shells are
carved at the center of the blocks on top of
the front legs and on top of the stiles flank-
ing the crest; the latter support eagles'
heads, which appear again, together with
their wings, as feet for the front legs. Each
front leg is in the form of a young black-
amoor holding garlands and supporting a
cushion, probably referring to the support-
ers of the Royal African Company, a trading Fig. 3 z . Detail of the front
company to Africa, to whom the chair might left leg of the armchair.

56
19
painted black and gilded. Today no such
evidence remains. Chairs of this type usually
have an elaborately carved and pierced
front stretcher, for which the present turned
stretcher must be a replacement.
This armchair came to the Museum
together with twenty-three other pieces of
English furniture from the collection of
George S. Palmer, a serious collector, though lion masks at the arms, with their wild
little known today. It has been published manes, menace anyone who approaches the
several times, most soberly by Joseph Breck personage they guard.' WR
in 1918' and most passionately in 1983 by
Humphry Wakefield: "The sense of live
r. Breck 1918, pp. 274, 277, fig. 2.
movement in this carving is as powerful and
2. Wakefield 1983, p. 116.
emotionally satisfying as that any tree or
human form could provide. The snarling
57
20.

Frame
Dutch, ca. 1685-1700 Fig. 34. Detail of
Johannes Hannart (d. 1709) the cartouche at
Oak veneered with ebony; boxwood and the base of the
ebonized boxwood; modern mirror glass frame showing the
H. 66 in. (167.7 cm)> w- 39 *n- (99 cm) maker's signature.
Signed on the oval cartouche at the bottom:
"Joh: Hanat."
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1223

A tour de force of the carver's art, this spec-

tacular frame was one of many gifts from
Irwin Untermyer to the Museum.' Fitted as
a mirror, it used to adorn one of the walls
in the dining room of Judge Untermyer's
Fifth Avenue apartment. Together with its
pair, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
(fig. 33), it was most likely made to display
a marriage portrait. 2 As testament to the
identity of the sitter in the painting, a coat
of arms surmounted by a coronet, and not
yet positively identified, was incorporated
in the cresting. 3 CD The monogram "ACC"
appears on the crest of the twin mirror in
Amsterdam, but this, too, cannot be associ-
ated with a particular family. Resembling
cameos, the low-relief carvings in the oval

Fig. 33. Frame by Johannes Hannart, ca. 1685-
1700. Oak veneered with ebony, boxwood, and
ebonized boxwood; 66 x 39 in. Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam (RBK 16506).
cartouches that are part of the decoration at
the bottom of both frames seem to make
additional allusions to the couple's armorial
bearings. œ The Museum's example has four
putti adorning a lamb with floral garlands—
perhaps a reference to the lamb or sheep
found in the first and fourth quarters of the
coat of arms. The cartouche in the frame at
the Rijksmuseum shows several cupids pur-
suing an escaping swan—probably an allu-
sion to the three swimming swans in the
other two quarters of the coat of arms. The
cupids with their bows and arrows were
then, as now, symbols of love and would,
after all, have been very appropriate subjects
for the frame of a marriage portrait.
The Museum's object is veneered with
ebony and decorated with very finely carved
pieces of applied boxwood. The contrast
between the nearly black background and
the adhered ornament must have been par-
ticularly striking when the boxwood was
fresh and lighter in color than it is today.
The innermost molding is ornamented with
a guilloche-and-rosette pattern, whereas the
one on the outside displays a continuous
string of bellflowers. Exemplifying great
dexterity on the part of the artist, tiny vines
with curling tendrils, leaves, and clusters of
grapes were attached to the central border
of the frame. The fruit-bearing vine may be
emblematic of fecundity or may refer to
Psalm 128, in which a wife is described as a
fruitful vine at the side of her husband's
house. This kind of symbolism is not un-
usual in seventeenth-century Dutch art. 4
Since this part of the frame is slightly con-
vex, the carver may have cut the motifs with
a small fretsaw from a similarly shaped
piece of boxwood in order to be able to glue
59
it to the curving ground. A similar tech-
nique was used for the cartouche below and
for the field of the coat of arms.
Contrasting with the continuous decora-
tion in low relief are the crest and the lower
part of the frame, both of which are
adorned with splendid ornament in high
relief. Acanthus leaves and a pair of large
swans perched on volutes (the pendant in
Amsterdam has eagles instead) flank the
coat of arms, which is placed within a
scrolling cartouche. The elegant birds with
long, curving necks and outstretched wings
are holding three-dimensional floral fes-
toons in their beaks. These garlands hang
down the sides of the frame and are draped
in swags that overlap the top of the frame in
three places.CD The carving includes a
wealth of naturalistic flowers and plant
materials, such as anemones, sunflowers,
lilies, oak leaves, and acorns—but, surpris-
ingly, only one or two tulips. Similar scroll-
ing acanthus leaves and floral garlands
hanging over volutes surround the car-
touche below the frame. The attention to
detail is truly amazing, as can be seen in the
long pistils carved in the round inside the
lily blossoms and in the swans' wing feath-
ers, which are distinguished from the down
on their breasts. Particularly beautiful are
the tips of the acanthus leaves that curl
around their gracefully curving necks. Very
refined, too, is the carving of the cartouche
surrounding the coat of arms. It is punched
with a dense, almost granular, pattern except
for the lowest part, which is scaled. With its
variety of high-relief carving, low-relief dec-
oration, and patterned surfaces flanked by
moldings of boxwood and ebonized box-
wood, the frame is reminiscent of the gold-
smith's art.
The sculptor Johannes Hannart (or Han-
naert), who signed this magnificent frame
with an abbreviated version of his name
(fig. 34), is not a familiar figure today. Born
in Hamburg at an unknown date, he was
established in the Netherlands in or before
1679, the year he was married at The
Hague. He must have been successful there,
since he was named stadsbeeldsnijder, or
municipal carver, in 1682. 5 The elaborately
carved frame, dated 1685, that surrounds a
group portrait of the members of the city
council painted three years earlier by Jan de
Baen (1633-1702) was most likely the
product of an official commission awarded
to Hannart in this capacity. Embellished
60
with various coats of arms, ribbons, and
garlands of flowers and oak leaves, the
gilded and polychrome frame is surmounted
by a coronet and acanthus scrolls not unlike
those on the Museum's example.
Several of his few extant pieces show
that Hannart worked not only in wood, as
one would expect of a carver, but also in
stone, 7 indicating that the traditional divi-
sion between stone sculptors and wood-
carvers was no longer strictly adhered to at
the end of the seventeenth century. Between
1690 and 1692, for instance, Hannart col-
laborated on a stone fountain, still in situ at
the fish market in Leiden, probably after a
design by the architect Jacob Roman
(1640-1716). Hannart was paid for the
models he made for the marble decoration
of the fountain, and he also executed the
main sculptural group of tritons on top. 9
Hannart's association with Roman dated
back to at least 1681, the year that Roman
was appointed stadstimmerman, or munici-
pal carpenter, of Leiden, a post that allowed
him, in fact, to be active as a designer and as
an architect. 10 Although he was trained as
a carver in the studio of his father, Pieter
Roman, the younger Roman increasingly
turned his attention to architecture. Having
moved to Leiden in 1681 to take up his new
position, Roman rented his house in The
Hague to Hannart, to whom he also sold
the contents of his workshop. Through
Roman, who in 1689 became the official
architect to the Dutch stadholder and king
of England, William III of Orange-Nassau
(1650-1702), Hannart may have gained
access to the court in The Hague. This con-
nection may have resulted in a commission
to make a plaster model for a lifesize statue
of the stadholder (the statue itself was never
completed)." In addition, it may have
brought Hannart in contact with the archi-
tect and designer Daniel Marot (1661-1752)
(see the entries for nos. 22, 26). Employed by
William III, Marot collaborated with Roman
on Het Loo, the stadholder's hunting lodge
near Apeldoorn, which was later enlarged to
a palace. Hannart was, in fact, one of the
sculptors who executed the large stone vases
designed by Marot for the gardens of Het
Loo.' 2 It is, therefore, not very surprising
that the Museum's frame bears some resem-
blance to Marot's works. The manner in
which the carving extends beyond the rec-
tangular frame at the top is quite reminis-
cent of a design for mirror frames by
Marot.' 3 In certain respects the rich and
dense decoration of the frames is also simi-
lar to allegorical vignettes painted in minia-
ture by Jacques Bailly (1629-1679) for the
borders of tapestries of the Four Seasons by
Charles Le Brun (1619-1690). Especially
close is Bailly's depiction of eagles perched on
a straight ledge and holding garlands of fruits
and flowers in their beaks, as found in a
vignette symbolizing Winter.14 These vignettes
were engraved by Sébastien Le Clerc (1637-
1714) and published in Paris a number of
times beginning in 1668 as Devises pour les
tapisseries du Roy. German versions of this
book, with engravings by Johanna Sibylla
Küsel (ca. 1650-1717), were published by her
husband, Johann Ulrich Kraus (1655-1719),
in Augsburg in 1687, 1709, and 1710.
Mounted as mirrors, Hannart's pair of
frames were lent by the dealer M. Harris and
Sons to the London "Art Treasures Exhibi-
tion 1932."' 5 DK-G
1. Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 79, figs. 397-99, pis. 344,
345. See also Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977,
p. 102, no. 185 (entry by William Rieder).
2. Rijksmuseum 1952, pp. 262-63, n o - 34 2 -
3. The device of three swimming swans could be the
bearing of the Van Swanenburgh family of Leiden,
and it has been suggested that the sheep are the bear-
ing of the Heydanus family. In 1662 Karel Heydanus
(1636-1679) married Jacoba van Swanenbnrgh
(1642-1676) in Leiden; see Pelinck i960, p. 154,
n. 12. But, given the date of their marriage, it does
not seem likely that the present frames were commis-
sioned for their wedding portraits. Their only daugh-
ter, Adriana Christina Heydanus (after 1662-1699),
never married; see Lunsingh Scheurleer, Fock, and
Van Dissel 1992, p. 284.
4. See, for instance, the use of fruit and a vine in a
family portrait by Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684);
Liedtke 2001, p. 274, no. 27 (entry by Walter
Liedtke).
5. Obreen 1877-90, vol. 6, p. 206, n. 1; and Staring
1965, p. 226. In 1683 he and other sculptors joined
Pictura, the brotherhood of painters in The Hague;
Obreen 1877-90, vol. 5, p. 137.
6. This portrait and its frame are in the collection of the
Historisch Museum, The Hague. They are on display
in the city hall. Van Thiel and De Bruyn Kops 1984,
p. 32.
7. The artist is known to have made a tomb monument
for Schelhammer, minister of the Lutheran Church
in The Hague. In place in 1699, it is now lost; see
Neurdenburg 1948, p. 237.
8. Fock 1994, pp. 35, 40.
9. Blok 1918; and Neurdenburg 1948, pp. 232, 236,
fig. 186.
10. Fock 1989, p. 28.
n . Staring 1965, p. 222.
12. Neurdenburg 1948, pp. 237-38.
13. Baarsen et al. 1988, pp. 147-48, nos. 91, 92 (entries
by Deborah Sampson Shinn).
14. See Grivel and Fumaroli 1988, p. 101, pi. 41,
pp. 115-16.
15. Art Treasures Exhibition 1932, no. 92.
21.

Armchair

French, ca. 1690-1710 as early as 1684. If the present chair model stretchers anticipate the style of the eigh-
Carved and gilded walnut; covered in late- is datable between 1690 and 1710, it is one teenth century."
seventeenth-century wool velvet (moquette)
of the first examples made with a drop-in A recent discovery in a French publica-
not original to the armchair
H. 46'/1 in. (118.1 cm), w. 28 in. (71.1 cm), upholstered seat. tion of 1837 may offer a key to settling all
d. 23'A in. (5-9.1 cm) A date of about 1690 to 1710 is espe- these arguments. In his Moyen-Age pit-
Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles cially attractive because it enables us to toresque: Monumens d'architecture, meubles
Wrightsman, by exchange, 1983 entertain the idea that the suite of seat furni- et décors Philippe Moret published a litho-
1983.526
ture to which this chair belongs re-created in graph of this chair model (fig. 35). The
gilded wood the silver furniture at Versailles short caption gives no medium, dimensions,
In the most recent catalogue of the furniture that was melted down in 1689 to pay for the or other details about it, but the description
at Versailles,' where two related armchairs à king's military campaigns. 7 This idea is reads, "Armchair used as King Stanislas's
châssis (with drop-in seats) are on display in supported by the simulated drapery orna- throne," and a provenance is given: "from
the refurbished bedroom of Louis XIV, this mentation on the armrests. This so-called the collection of M. Schwiter." 9 The king
extraordinary chair model was described as lambrequin motif (see the entry for no. 33) is referred to must be the Polish prince Stanislas
"to be dated probably to the second quarter rarely found in contemporary French wood- Leszczyñski (1677-1766), who was elected
of the eighteenth century." 2 This proposed work but is fairly common in the products king of Poland in 1704 and displaced in
dating was based on "the setting back of the of the court goldsmiths. Laurence Buffet- 1709 by Augustus the Strong of Saxony
armrest supports" and "the absence of a Challié observed of another example of this (1670-1733). In 1725 his fortunes rose
stretcher" between the legs.3 The chair's model, in the Lopez-Willshaw collection in again, when his daughter Maria was mar-
overall appearance, however, as well as the Paris, that "the woodwork of this armchair ried to Louis XV (1710-1774). As the
Italianate, trapezoidal form of the seat make [of] c. 1700 is carved almost as if it were the French king's father-in-law, Leszczynski
an earlier date much more plausible. Also, work of a goldsmith. The curved frame to was made duke of Lorraine and took up res-
the ornamentation and the minimally curved, the back and the seat, and the absence of idence in Nancy, transforming that town
rather straight-looking arms with their
stylized-volute "hand knobs" (see fig. 36)
betray the pervasive influence of Charles Le
Brun (1619-1690), director of the royal
manufactory at the Gobelins and of the
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture
(since 1663) under Louis XIV. Le Brun's
playfully arranged designs are echoed in
many decorative works of the late seven-
teenth century, for example, four embroi-
dered wall hangings of about 1685 and an
ingeniously designed side table of about
1690, both in the collection of the Museum. 4
Another argument put forward in the
Versailles catalogue for a date after Louis's
death in 1715 is a perceived similarity
between the burly, branchlike legs of this
chair model and the pieds de biche, or legs
turned three-quarters forward and terminat-
ing in a doe's foot that became popular for
furniture during the early Régence period
(see the entry for no. 28). 5 The fanciful,
imaginative leg design of this chair model,
Fig. 35. Throne of Hing
based on a series of incurving segments
Stanislas. Detail of a litho-
(chantournés en dedans), is far more sophis- graph by Th. Boys in
ticated than the pieds de biche. It is firmly .JfanwM/j. Philippe Moret, Moyen-
rooted in the zoomorphic foot forms of the Cmuóeó tuvœtféâ
Âge pittoresque: Monumens
d'architecture, meubles et
seventeenth century and can be visually doc- Htí« ì< U OrfttotlM 5t Jïtr j U ^ ^ r
décors du Xe au X VU'
umented in the Grand Galerie at Versailles 'S0 id. siècle, vol. 1 (Paris, 1837).

61
into a major cultural center of the Rococo
period. 10 The splendor-loving Leszczyñski
regularly received furnishings and luxury
goods from the French court as gifts, and
the opulent chair seen in the lithograph, the
Museum's example, and other pieces of the
suite may have been among them. By
Leszczyñski's time the style was certainly
out of fashion, but their royal pedigree,
flamboyant opulence, and highly unusual
appearance must have been as fascinating
then as they are today. At some point, the
suite was broken up and scattered. We do
not know if the armchair in the Schwiter
collection was a wooden example (which,
by the way it is characterized, seems likely)
or if it was a silver version that had escaped
the mint." It was, however, called a throne,
indicating not only a royal association but
also that in 1837 only a single example was
Fig. 36. Detail of the
left side of the chair.
Stylized lambrequin
motifs decorate the
62
known. We remain in the dark as regards
the Schwiter collection. A Louis-August
Schwiter (1808-1889), later Baron Schwiter,
is recorded in a portrait by Eugène Dela-
croix (1798-1863), today in the National
Gallery, London (NG 3286). In his inven-
tory of public-sale catalogues, Frits Lugt
(1884-1970) mentions that a collector
named Schwiter sold works of art at a series
of auctions in Paris between 11-12 December
1863 and 16-17 December 1864 and that
some of the lots included furniture.12 WK
I . Arizzoli-Clémentel 2002, pp. 178-79.no. 59.
2. Ibid., p. 178. See also Meyer 1980b, p. 246.
3. Arizzoli-Clémentel 2002, pp. 178-79, no. 59.
4. On the wall hangings, see Alice M. Zrebiec in Raggio
et al. 1989, p. 32 and color ills. pp. 10-11. On the
side table, which is based on designs by Le Brun, see
James Parker in Raggio et al. 1989, pp. 22-23 a n d
p. 3,fig.4.
5. Arizzoli-Clémentel 2002, p. 178 (but the proposed
interpretation of the pied de biche is not sound); and
Koeppe 1996, p. 185, fig. 5.
6. The chair's branchlike legs are unusual in the same
way as are the animal legs of the side tables in the
Grand Galerie seen in an etching of 1684 by
Sébastien Le Clerc (1637-1714) in Raggio et al.
1989, p. 6, fig. 7.
7. Salmann 1962, p. 74, fig. 6; and Apra 1972, p. 26,
fig. 17.
8. Buffet-Chalhé 1965, p. 84, figs. 278, 279.
9. "Fauteuil ayant servi de Trône au Roi Stanislas";
Moret 1837-40, vol. 1, pi. 18. There is a copy of this
book in the Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan
Museum.
10. Stanislas 2004.
11. I hope that this rather speculative entry will encour-
age scholars to investigate the archives at Nancy and
in Stanislas's residences and that their research will
shed light on the mystery of these important chairs.
12. I am most grateful to Florian Knothe, Annette
Kade Art History Fellow, 2005-2006, Metropolitan
Museum, for sharing with me the fruits of his
research on Schwiter.
63
22.
State bed
English, ca. 1698
Oak; covered in silk damask, some of it replaced
H. 12 ft. (365.8 cm), I. 6 ft. 6 in. (198.1 cm),
iv. 5 ft. (152.4 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Randolph Hearst Jr.,
1968
68.217.1
Thomas, Baron Coningsby (1656-1729), a
friend and courtier of William III of
England (1650-1702), ordered this state
bed about 1698 for his own residence,
Hampton Court, near Leominster, in
Herefordshire. Starting about 1680, he car-
ried out extensive alterations in the house
and laid out the gardens, both of which are
depicted in two panoramic views painted
about 1699 by Leonard Knyff (see fig. 37).'
Coningsby was a curious and extravagant
gentleman, obsessed with the knightly his-
tory of his family, which he reenacted in
portraiture, in heraldry, and in romantic,
medieval-style joustings. More than a little
unbalanced, he died in 1729, after years of
wandering vaguely in his fantasy world.
In the great English country houses of
the late seventeenth century, the state bed
evolved into the most lavish (and expensive)
piece of furniture in the house, the cost
often exceeding the rest of the contents
combined. As a great confection of velvet,
damask, and silk, edged with gold and silver
braid and the most elaborate passementerie,
it required the skills of the leading mercers,
upholsterers, and trimmings-makers of the
Fig. 37. Leonard Knyff ( 1 6 5 0 - 1 7 2 1 ) , The North
Court, Herefordshire (detail), ca. 1 6 9 9 . Oil on canvas, 5 8 % x 8 4 % in. Yale
Center for British Art, N e w H a v e n , Connecticut, Paul Mellon Collection.
64
period. Often it was upholstered en suite
with chairs, stools, curtains, and wall hang-
ings. While, in principle, it was reserved for
a visit of the sovereign, when such a visit
failed to materialize, the state bed served as
a bold status symbol.
These beds were frequently inspired by
the designs of William Ill's architect Daniel
Marot (1661-1752), who illustrated several
in two published suites of engravings (see
fig. 38). 1 With their elaborate testers and
strongly scrolled headboards, they were the
most prominent examples of furniture in the
English Baroque style.
This state bed is one of two from Hamp-
ton Court. It was made for Coningsby's
own use. The other, covered in red damask,
was placed in the state bedroom, called The
King's Bedroom, and is now in the bed-
chamber of William III at Het Loo Palace,
near Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands.'
During the remodeling of Hampton
Court in the nineteenth century, the blue
bedroom was altered and the bed stored in
an attic, where it was spotted in 1911 by
H. Avray Tipping of the magazine Country
Life, who wrote, "So fine a bed of the Marot
type in such unusually perfect state is rare
indeed." 4 Later, he elaborated on his find:
"When, at my special desire, it was again set
up (the brew-house seemed the only place
lofty enough for this purpose), it was found
to be in its entirety and in admirable condi-
tion." 5 In 1925 it was sold to the dealer
Prospect of Hampton Fig. 38. Title plate (etching) in Daniel M a r o t , Second livre
1 7 0 3 . T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of Art, N e w York, H a r r i s Brisbane Dick
Fund, 1 9 3 0 (30.4.[12]).
Permaine of Bond Street, London, who sold
it shortly thereafter to the American news-
paper publisher William Randolph Hearst
(1863-1951). Whether intended by Hearst
for St. Donat's, his castle in Wales, or for San
Simeon in California is not known, but in
1968, still packed in the crates of 1925, it
was given by his son and daughter-in-law to
the Metropolitan Museum. When finally
completely unpacked and examined with a
view to its restoration in 1986, the bed was
in a considerably less perfect state than it
had been in 1911. There followed an exten-
sive conservation project to clean the origi-
nal damask and fringes on the tester and
headboard and to commission new match-
ing silk damask to replicate the fragile head-
cloth and to provide new curtains and
bedspread, which had been lost. 6 CD Even
with the new silk damask, this bed is in a
remarkable state of preservation. WR
1. On Hampton Court, see the following three publica-
tions: Cornforth 1973; Country House Portrayed
1973; and Cormack 1985, pp. 136-37.
2. Two plates with beds of similar design, the title page
and pi. 34, are illustrated in White 1982, pp. 85-86,
figs. 4, 5.
3. Vliegenthart 2002, p. 205, fig. 339.
4. Tipping 1911, p. 791.
5. Tipping 1928, p. 20.
6. Britton 2001. The new damask was woven by
Richard Humphries, Humphries Weaving Company,
Halstead, Essex, England.
d'appartements,
65
23.
Cabinet (armoire)
French (Paris), ca. 1700
Attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
Oak veneered with macassar and Gabon ebony,
ebonized fruitwood, burl wood, and marquetry
of tortoiseshell and brass; gilt-bronze mounts
H. 91V4 in. (233 cm), w. 48 in. (121.9 crn)<
d. 19 in. (48.3 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1959
59.108
In 1688 the Parisian cabinetmaker Auburtin
Gaudron, who worked for the French court
after the death of Pierre Gole (ca. 1 6 2 0 -
1684), delivered for Louis XIV's apartment
at the Château de Marly a "large and beau-
tiful cabinet with architectural bronze
mounts and marquetry of copper and ebony
with amaranth." 1 Such armoires (closed
cabinets or wardrobes) were ostentatious
parade objects intended to stand grandly in
a public room. The above description of the
marquetry on Gaudron's armoire and of his
piece's architectural form document that at
this time André-Charles Boulle was not the
Fig. 39. Detail of the mounts at the top of the
right door of the cabinet.
66
only maker of these cabinets, for success has
always sparked imitation in the competitive
Parisian artistic environment. Nonetheless,
the products of Boulle's workshop are dis-
tinguished from those of his competitors by
sculptural details of unusual quality applied
to the carcase structure. Boulle's furniture
bears some of the best gilt-bronze orna-
ments ever made (see also no. 31). 2 The eight
intricate corner mounts on the doors of the
Museum's cabinet depict wind gods with
flowing locks—six with a mature face and
two with a young, beardless face—blowing
a gale through pursed lips (fig. 39). 3 The
facade-like front, on a modest base with later
toupie feet, is divided by a vertical molding
of pilaster form with brass on tortoiseshell
(première partie) marquetry. Its small capital
penetrates an egg-and-dart molding with a
projecting Vitruvian-scroll frieze above. The
cabinet's top has concave sides and a rectan-
gular base, lending the whole composition
an almost pagoda-like look. 4
Fig. 40. André-Charles Boulle, Design for a Cabinet
(detail), n.d. Sanguine and pen drawing. Musée des
Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
The patterns of the different inlaid pan-
els correspond to those on other Boulle
workshop pieces; these panels may have
been prefabricated and held for stock, as
mounts very often were, especially those fre-
quently applied, such as rosettes, scrolls,
and hinges. 5 The mounts on the Museum's
cabinet, which are integrated with and partly
echo the two-dimensional inlaid decor, inten-
sify the sparkling appearance of the piece.
There are similarities between this cabinet
and a remarkable drawing by Boulle in
the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris that
strengthen the attribution to Boulle (fig. 40).
Certain features of this cabinet shed light
on the economically oriented nature of
Boulle's workshop. The degree of chiseling
and finish on the bronze mounts gradually
increases as they approach eye level; more-
over, the exotic and very expensive ebony—
which was purchased by the pound—is
replaced by ebonized local fruitwood in the
upper quarter of the cabinet (above eye
<4
i
2-3

67
level). A similar thrift was practiced on the
inside of the doors, which are not inlaid.CD
Instead, they are veneered with local burl
wood that was probably stained to imitate
much more valuable tortoiseshell. 7 Still, the
interior must have looked strikingly attrac-
tive, especially when the three shelves (now
lost) were filled with works of art or pre-
cious books. The outside of the Museum's
armoire is for the most part veneered with
contre partie (dark on light) marquetry,
which was about 20 percent less expensive
than première partie. This suggests that a
matching cabinet decorated similarly but
predominantly in première partie once existed.
In spite of its enormous size, the object is
surprisingly easy to dismantle; it comes apart
in fifteen to twenty minutes.
The cabinet has unfortunately lost nearly
all of its former engraved decoration, which
means that its current appearance is dis-
torted. This type of wear may be due to the
24.
Cabinet on stand
English, ca. 1700
Pine veneered with marquetry of walnut, burl
walnut, and holly; oak drawers; walnut legs;
brass hardware, some of it replaced
H. 62% in. (159.4 cm), w. 45V4 in. (116.2 cm),
d. 21 in. (53.3 cm)
From the Marion E. and Leonard A. Cohn
Collection, Bequest of Marion E. Cohn, 1966
66.64.15
This cabinet on stand is decorated with so-
called seaweed marquetry of holly and wal-
nut. Enclosing multiple drawers for the
safekeeping of valuables, this type of case
furniture has antecedents in the imposing
ebony showpieces created in Paris largely
during the reign of Louis XIII (1610-43)
and in the collector's cabinets made of pre-
cious materials in centers like Augsburg and
Antwerp (see the entries for nos. 11, 13).
It is generally thought that the use of
marquetry was introduced in England by
foreign cabinetmakers after the restoration
to the throne of Charles II (1630-1685) in
68
materials used. Tortoiseshell and wooden
veneer are organic, as is the oak used to
build the carcase. The inlaid metal has a
totally different coefficient of expansion,
and as a result the boulle marquetry is
constantly "working." Already in the eigh-
teenth century it was said that major parts
of the surface would have to be restored
"every generation" (roughly every twenty-
five to thirty years), and each smoothing
of the surface reduced the depth of the
engraved decoration and the thickness of the
veneers themselves. WK
1. "grand et belle armoire toutte d'architecture de
bronze et de marqueterie de cuivre et d'ébeine avec
bois violet"; quoted in Verlet 1963, pp. 9-10. See
also Koeppe 1992, pp. 199-201, no. M104, color
ills. pp. 245, 246.
2. Fuhring 1994; and Hughes 1996, vol. 2, pp. 541-840.
3. It has been suggested that these corner mounts were
added in the late eighteenth century, despite the fact
that they are stylistically close to contemporary
1660.1 Many of them were either Dutch or
French Huguenot craftsmen skilled in the
latest Continental techniques. This cabinet
is almost entirely decorated with marquetry,
which, in contrast to the process of inlaying,
involves placing a decorative veneer over
the wooden carcase, or body, of a piece of
furniture. A clear distinction between the
two techniques was not always kept, how-
ever, and the term "inlayer" was generally
used in England to identify those craftsmen
and cabinetmakers who practiced both
proper inlay and marquetry.2'
Particularly popular in England during
the post-Restoration period was the Dutch-
style naturalistic floral marquetry used for
clocks and case furniture. More stylized, two-
dimensional patterns—such as arabesque and
scrolled seaweed decoration, both generally
considered to be typically English 3 —were
also applied, with striking results.
The Museum's cabinet has a flat-topped
rectangular superstructure that rests on an
French sculpture. See Ronfort 2001. I thank Danielle
Kisluk-Grosheide for this reference.
4. See Hughes 1996, vol. 2, pp. 817-24, no. 172
(this object has an identical central molding and a
similar top).
5. Ibid. See Pradère 1989, pp. 67-108, on the paw feet
ending in acanthus sprays; these stock items are dis-
cussed in almost all descriptions of the Boulle work-
shop.
6. Fuhring 1994, p. 23.
7. I thank Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator,
Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan
Museum, for discussing this issue with me. For
stained burl wood, see Baumeister et al. 1997. On
the cabinet, see also Molinier 1902b, vol. r, pi. 5;
catalogue of the Eugene Kraemer collection sale,
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 2-5 June 1913, no. 359;
catalogue of the Antoine-Alfred Agénor, duc de
Gramont, collection sale, Galerie Georges Petit,
Paris, 22 May 1925, lot 52 (for a similar example,
see also lot 51); catalogue of an anonymous sale at
Palais Galliéra, Paris, n June 1965, lot 96; and
James Parker in Raggio et al. 1989, pp. 18, 19.
8. I am most grateful to the late Count Alexander zu
Münster, who was a major conservator of boulle work
and of pieces from the Roentgen workshop (see the
entry for no. 72}, for allowing me to observe the activ-
ity at his own workshop for extended periods of time.
open stand (fig. 41). The upper part is fitted
with two doors that enclose thirteen draw-
ers arranged around a central compartment.
Behind a small door, this compartment
houses six shallow drawers, two large and
four small (fig. 42). A projecting cornice
and a barrel-fronted frieze forming a single
large drawer surmount the cabinet.CD The
stand encloses one large drawer, on the
front of which vertical divisions in the mar-
quetry indicate the position of the S-shaped
legs below.CD The six legs are all modern
replacements, most likely exact copies of the
original ones but made of solid walnut and
fitted between flat capitals and square plinths
that are also later additions. Enlivening the
otherwise boxlike appearance of the cabi-
net, the two angled legs at the corners form
a transition between the front legs that are
placed straight and those at the back, which
are positioned sideways. The shaped, inter-
laced stretcher supported on six bun feet
harmonizes with the outline of the lobed
24

69
 Fig. 41. General view of the cabinet on stand with the doors closed.
marquetry reserves on the sides and on the
door panels, as well as with the decoration,
consisting of simple stringing, inside the
central compartment.
The dense seaweed marquetry of scroll-
ing foliage and floral motifs is strictly sym-
metrical. Adapted to the size of each
reserve, it is small on the drawer fronts and
larger on the doors and sides. The mar-
quetry process facilitated repetition of these
intricate patterns. Following the lines of the
design with a fine fretsaw, the cabinetmaker
would carefully cut through stacked layers
of holly and walnut veneer that had been
temporarily pinned or glued together. Once
this difficult task was finished, the different
70
layers were separated. The patterns of holly
were fitted into the spaces cut in the walnut
ground to form a panel that was then
applied to the carcase. 4 So-called book-
matched marquetry could also be created by
the simultaneous sawing of bundled veneers.
For this cabinet, it meant using four sheets
of veneer that were cut together, two for the
background and two for the ornamentation.
Half of these were then turned over, just like
the pages of a book, and adhered to the oak
substrate side by side so that a strictly sym-
metrical decoration was achieved with a
joint in the middle.' CD The seaweed mar-
quetry in the large cartouches on the doors
and sides of the cabinet on stand is book-
matched but that in the smaller reserves is not.
With the exception of the guilloche bor-
ders on the drawer fronts, which are all holly,
the marquetry consists of holly against a
walnut ground. An even stronger contrast
must originally have existed when the now-
darkened holly was nearly white and the
brown walnut, today somewhat dulled and
grayish, was fresh. The walnut is cut in a
radial plane in order to get an even-grained
surface that would show off the lighter dec-
oration at its best. All the detailing was
done by saw cuts and not by engraving. In
order to achieve the effect of shading, the
holly wood was partially scorched in hot
sand. Whereas the holly may originally have
 Fig. 4 2 . Central c o m p a r t m e n t of the cabinet on stand.
looked like more costly ivory, the areas sur-
rounding the seaweed-marquetry reserves
are veneered with a richly figured burl wal-
nut that resembles a brecchiated marble or
tortoiseshell. To create even greater play of
patterning, the cabinetmaker used cross-
banded veneer for the various moldings on
the cabinet and on the stand (some of which
is modern).
The simple shape of the superstructure is
a perfect vehicle for the intricate seaweed
decoration, which has been compared not
only to lace and filigree but also to the elab-
orate marquetry of André-Charles Boulle
(1642-1732; see the entries for nos. 23,
31). In England the artist most regularly
associated with this kind of work was
Gerrit Jensen (d. 1715), who supplied furni-
ture to the English crown; 7 however, the
seaweed marquetry that covers the entire
surface of a pair of cabinets thought to have
been made by Jensen, now in the collection
of the duke and duchess of Devonshire at
Chatsworth, Derbyshire, is clearly different
and rules out a similar attribution for the
Museum's piece.8 DK-G
1. Coleridge 1965, p. 91; and Dictionary of Art 1996,
vol. 20, p. 468.
2. Kirkham 1980, p. 415.
3. A seaweed-marquerry cabinet ar Kingston Lacy in
Dorset, however, has two Dutch signatures in its
interior, and another Dutch cabinet has seaweed-
marquetry borders; see Baarsen 1988a, pp. 2 5 - 2 6 ,
figs. 22, 23.
4. Edwards 1964, pp. 326-27.
5. Corkhill 1989, pp. 53, 332. When veneers were bun-
dled, it was easy to reverse those used for the ground
and those used for the inlay, creating a dark ground
with a light pattern {première partie) and a light
ground with a dark pattern {contre partie). This type
of marquetry is not found on the Museum's cabinet.
6. See for instance, Percival 1927, p. 235; and Symonds
192-9, PP- 7 6 - 7 7 .
7. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 485-87 (entry by
Gervase Jackson-Stops).
8. Bowett 2002, pp. 188-92, 2 0 0 - 2 0 1 , figs. 6.23-
6.26, 7.9-7.11.
71
¿5-
Armchair
English, ca. 1700
Attributed to Thomas Roberts (active
1685-1714)
Ebonized beech; covered in Genoese velvet
H. 48 in. (122 cm), w. 28 in. (71.1 cm), d. 32 in.
(81.3 cm)
Purchase, Gift of ¡nein Untermyer, by exchange,
and Bequests of Bernard M. Baruch, Ruth Mabee
Lachman Greenleaf, and Irwin Untermyer, by
exchange, 1998
1998.297.1
This armchair, and a matching example also
in the Museum's collection, are from a large
suite comprising a state bed, eight arm-
chairs, four side chairs, and a pair of stools
made for Daniel Finch, second earl of
Nottingham (1647-1730) for the state bed-
room of his country seat, Burley-on-the-
Hill, in Rutland. The bed, two armchairs,
and the pair of stools are now displayed in
William and Mary's palace at Het Loo, near
Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands.'
Daniel Finch was secretary of state and
privy councillor to William III (1650-1702).
After retiring from the government in 1696,
he began to build his country house at
Burley-on-the-Hill, saying "to live in the
country . . . and mind his own affairs and
7*
estate . . . is part of a gentleman's calling." 1
Although the house was not entirely
finished until the 1720s, the state bedroom
was largely complete by 1701. The earliest
known reference to the suite in the eigh-
teenth century is in the diaries of the first
duchess of Northumberland, who slept in
the room in 1771. 3 The furniture is re-
corded at Burley in inventories of 1772 and
1826 and in a photograph of the state bed-
room taken in 1923 (fig. 43). 4
Finch almost certainly commissioned
this set from Thomas Roberts, the promi-
nent London chairmaker, who provided
much of the seat furniture for the royal
household.' In his bills the scrolled feet
and arms of this type of chair are described
as "horsebone." 6 The tall, raked backs and
flared and scrolled arms reflect the style of
Daniel Marot (1661-1752), the French
architect and designer who worked closely
with William and Mary at their palaces
both in Holland and in England. The front
rails are carved with a series of C-scrolls
centered on an earl's coronet. CD The chairs
retain their original Genoese five-color vel-
vet covers with matching tasseled fringes.
Fig. 4 3 . P h o t o g r a p h of the state b e d r o o m , Burley-
on-the-Hill, R u t l a n d , showing T h o m a s Roberts's
set of furniture in situ in 1 9 2 3 .
1. Vliegenthart 2002, p. 74, fig. 90. A side chair from
the suite is in the Denver Art Museum, Denver,
Colorado.
2. Important English Furniture, catalogue of a sale at
Sotheby's, London, 10 July 1998, p. 206, lot 84.
3. Northumberland 1926. The diaries are now at
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.
4. Hussey 1923, pp. 254-57, figs. 1, 8,10. Several
accounts suggest that this suite predates Burley-on-
the-Hill. Hussey believed that it was made in 1693,
when Daniel Finch's father, Heneage Finch (1621-
1682), was created earl of Nottingham. When
Hussey described it in the 1920s, the bed was
believed to have been made for the use of Queen
Mary when she attended the christening of Lady
Charlotte Finch at Cleveland House, the London
mansion opposite St. James's Palace occupied by
Daniel Finch from 1689 until 1695. Four armchairs
and one side chair were destroyed in a fire at Burley
in 1908. The suite was offered for sale together
with the contents of Burley by the auction house of
Knight, Frank and Rutley, on 20 May 1947, lots 275,
276; the bed, chairs, and stools remained unsold and
were retained by the family. The suite passed by
descent to E. R. Hanbury, who sold it at Christie's,
London, on 6 July 1989, lots 148-52. Two armchairs
and three side chairs were sold again at Sotheby's,
London, on 10 July 1998, lots 84-86. The Metro-
politan Museum acquired the two armchairs as lot 84.
The accession number of the second is 1998.297.2.
5. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 752-54 (entry by
Gervase Jackson-Stops).
6. Bowett 1999.
2-5

73
26.

Side chair

intricate patterns of the show covers and teenth century. From about 1820 on, such
Dutch, ca. 1700
Walnut; covered in modern velvet their trim in these illustrations that inspired "antique chairs," as well as later copies,
H. 54V4 in. (139.1 cm), w. 22'A in. (57.2 cm), Dutch and English chairmakers to create were used to furnish Elizabethan and
d. 19 in. (48.3 cm) openwork backs for their seat furniture in Carolean Revival interiors in England. For
Pasted on the back of the left stile is a round this style.4 Candlelight would have been beau- this purpose London dealers imported this
sticker on which are printed and inscribed,
tifully reflected in the lustrous and crisply type of seat furniture from the Nether-
respectively: "Irwin Untermyer Collection ";
and "145A" and "F." Written in crayon on carved ornament on this pair of chairs— lands. 5 The overall shape as well as the fine
the inside of the seat rail: "52759." such as the foliated strapwork cresting and detail and high quality of the carving of the
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964 the urn and shield motifs framed in scrolling Museum's chairs, however, appear to be
64.101.909 acanthus leaves, both of which are closely typical of Dutch work.
related to Marot's decorative vocabulary.CD Made in large sets and placed along the
A strong, versatile wood with a lustrous Chairs with turned baluster legs and shaped periphery of a room, these tall chairs were
surface, walnut lends itself well to polishing. crossed stretchers crowned with a central considered to be part of the wall decoration
With its fine and even grain, it also allows finial are also seen in Marot's designs (see and had a primarily decorative function.
elaborate carving, as is beautifully illus- fig. 44). Whereas the back legs of this pair Although a number of chairs with elabo-
trated by this imposing side chair and its end in ordinary ball feet, those in front, rately carved backs are known today, they
pair, also in the Museum's collection.' which terminate in paws, are more unusual. did not constitute the majority of the chair
Fashionable both in the Netherlands and in It is, in fact, not always possible to tell in production during the reign of William and
England for a brief period at the end of the which country a tall chair with a carved and Mary. Completely upholstered or caned seat
seventeenth century, chairs of this kind, openwork back originated. This has been furniture was far more common in England
with shaped uprights and an openwork further complicated by the fact that these and the Netherlands at the time.'
back, are said to be in the style of Daniel so-called Anglo-Dutch chairs enjoyed a This chair and its pair were part of the
Marot (1661-1752)/ resurgence of popularity during the nine- Irwin Untermyer collection and stood in the
Son of the French architect Jean Marot
( 1 6 1 9 - 1 6 7 9 ) , the younger Marot left
France as a Huguenot émigré to escape reli-
gious persecution after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. He became archi-
tect and designer to the stadholder of the
Dutch Republic, William III of Orange-
Nassau (1650-1702). Working in a per-
sonal version of the French court style,
Marot influenced artistic developments both
in the Netherlands and in England, where
he served William and his consort Mary
Stuart (1662-1694) after they succeeded
jointly to the English throne in 1689.
Marot's work is best known through his
engravings, a large collection of which, enti-
tled Oeuvres de Sr. D. Marot, architecte de
Guillaume HI, was published for the first
time in The Hague in 1703. 3 Derived from
French fashions, his designs include subjects
ranging from buildings and gardens, interi-
ors and fireplaces, and textiles and metal-
Fig. 44. Designs for
work to furniture. Among Marot's prints for
upholstered furniture and
seat furniture, however, there are no chairs valances, etching in
with carved and pierced backs. Instead, Daniel Marot, Second livre
reflecting contemporary French traditions, d'appartements (before
1703). The Metropolitan
the formal chairs with tall upright backs
Museum of Art, New York,
represented in Marot's work are completely M~rff,,.(i, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund,
upholstered (see fig. 44). It was perhaps the 193° <3°-4[i7])-

74
26

75
entrance hall of the judge's apartment at Judge Untermyer. 7 Another chair of the set 4. Baarsen 1993a, p. 74, no. 34.

960 Fifth Avenue (see illustration on page 4,
below). They were formerly in the possession
of Sallie A. Hert at Lyndon Hall, Louisville,
Kentucky. She had acquired them in 1931
from the New York antiques dealer French
and Company, together with three identical
ones. The group of five was offered as
three separate lots in the auction of the
Hert estate in 1949. French and Company
bought them all back and sold this pair to
was purchased by the William Rockhill
Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum of
Fine Arts in Kansas City. DK-G
Hackenbroch 1958a, pp. 1 7 - 1 8 , figs. 65, 66,
pis. 42, 43; and Baarsen et al. 1988, p. 159, no. n o
(entry by Deborah Sampson Shinn). The accession
number of the second chair is 64.101.910.
Edwards 1964, p. 129.
Dee 1988, p. 82.
5. Bowett 2002, pp. 2 7 2 - 7 3 .
6. Baarsen 1988a, p. 24.
7. Catalogue of the Sallie A. Hert collection sale, Parke-
Bernet Galleries, New York, 25-26 November 1949,
lots 264-66.
8. See the correspondence of Ross E. Taggart in the
archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum.
The whereabouts of the two chairs that made up the
third lot of the Hert sale are not known.

27.
Cabinet on stand

Dutch, ca. 1700-1710 tory of his shop describes a large assem- vide proof that Van Mekeren created fine
Attributed to Jan van Mekeren (1658-1733) blage of walnut and oak furniture in stock. floral marquetry. 5
Oak veneered with rosewood, olive wood, ebony,
Entries for four unfinished doors with flowers, Resting on an open support, the Met-
holly, tulipwood, barberry, and other partly
stained marquetry woods two incomplete tables with flowers, as well ropolitan's cabinet has a simple, boxlike
H. 70V4 in. (178.4 cm), w. 53VS in. (136.8 cm), as a small cabinet with saw-cut flowers pro- superstructure with a slightly projecting
d. 2 2 % in. (57 cm)
Ruth and Victoria Blumka Fund, 1995
r995-37ra,b

Despite a 1624 regulation stipulating that

members of the Amsterdam cabinetmakers'
guild who offered their wares for sale in
the company's shop had to mark their
work, 1 very few pieces of Dutch furniture
are signed. As a result, it is the exception
rather than the rule that extant pieces of
Dutch furniture can be ascribed to a certain
maker. Based on their naturalistic floral
marquetry of exceedingly high quality, how-
ever, a group of cabinets, including this one
in the Museum's collection, 1 has been attrib-
uted to Jan van Mekeren. 3
Born in Tiel, Gelderland, Van Mekeren
established himself in or shortly before
1687 as an independent master in Amster-
dam, where he was also a merchant in
wood. 4 Since the headquarters of the Dutch
East India Company was in Amsterdam,
that city was the foremost European market
for exotic woods. A grandson of Van Meke-
ren's, also named Jan, continued this aspect
of the business after 1733, when his grand-
father died. Based on a list of his debtors at
the time of his death, Van Mekeren appears
to have prospered by specializing in the pro-
duction of luxury furniture created mostly
for the Amsterdam elite. The 1733 inven- Fig. 4 5 . General view of the cabinet o n stand with the right d o o r open.

76
*7

77
cornice and base, both embellished with a
meandering trail of flowers tied with a bow
at the center of the front and sides. The cen-
tral upright, similarly decorated with a
string of flowers and ribbons apparently
suspended from a ring at the top, visually
divides both doors but is actually part of the
right door.CD The cabinet's lock is hidden
behind a sliding panel in the center of this
upright. Most of the cabinetmaker's atten-
tion has been lavished on the two door pan-
els, which open to reveal an interior fitted
with three shelves of varying depth and five
drawers for the storage of fine linens and
other treasured possessions. On the inside,
the doors have an eight-pointed star of deep
brown-black rosewood against a lighter
olive-wood background surrounded by a
border of rosewood (fig. 45). On the outside
they display large bouquets of naturalistic
flowers against an ebony ground that is
framed by a tulipwood border. Among the
many exquisite flowers to be seen gathered
with a flowing ribbon are tulips, crown
imperials, lilies, daffodils, peonies, anemones,
roses, irises, and hyacinths. Each of the cab-
inet's side panels displays a vase of flowers
standing on the edge of a table or plinth
inside an oval ebony medallion that is sur-
rounded by beautifully figured rosewood.CD
Less refined are the more repetitive flowers
found on the front of the large drawer in
the stand, or on the tapering legs and the
double-Y-shaped, serpentine stretcher.
Upon examination, it becomes clear that
of the more than two hundred elaborate
flowers decorating the piece, several occur
more than once, sometimes in reverse. This
repetition was achieved through the tech-
nique of cutting a packet of different
veneers together. Having affixed a design to
the top layer, the cabinetmaker would take
up his fretsaw and cut as many identical
flowers as there were layers in the packet. 7
Variation was obtained by arranging the
veneers, and thus the colors, differently and
by sometimes turning the cut flower over to
reverse the design.CD By cleverly choosing
bright yellow woods like barberry for the
daffodils and the crown imperial, for
instance, and by enhancing the nearly white
holly wood with natural dyes, Van Mekeren
achieved a very rich and naturalistic palette,
not unlike those of contemporary flower
painters. Unfortunately, the organic stains
commonly used during this period, which
were made from the extracts of plants and
78
exotic woods, are not very durable, and not
a trace is left of them. Only the green dye,
based on copper salts, that was applied to
the stems and leaves has retained some of its
vivid color. Details such as the veining of
the leaves or petals were achieved with tiny
saw cuts, and additional shading effects
were created by scorching parts of certain
pieces of veneer in hot sand.
Some of the flowers, such as the tall lily
stalk, the striking crown imperial, or the
variegated tulip with its twisted petals, can
easily be recognized on other pieces thought
to be by Van Mekeren. This particular tulip
is very close to one included in an engraving
by the flower painter Jean-Baptiste Mon-
noyer (1636-1699), in a series entitled Livres
de plusieurs paniers de fleurs, published by
Nicolas de Poilly (1626-1696) in Paris. 9
Other species in Van Mekeren's oeuvre bear
resemblance to illustrations in earlier florile-
gia, or flower books, such as the Hortus
Floridus by Crispijn van de Passe (1614).
The dazzling use of exotic veneers, not
only for the background but also for the
borders and moldings of the cabinet, more
than makes up for the lack of sculptural
enrichment of the case and stand. Veneer
diagonally cut from logs of tulipwood,
resembling the irregular pattern of a beauti-
ful moiré silk, frames the central fields on
the doors. Adhered to the top edge of the
stand are pieces of veneer sawn in the
same manner but from thinner branches of
tulipwood, whose concentric growth rings,
recurring repeatedly, create the illusion of a
three-dimensional beaded border. Although
there are many similarities, some differences
between this cabinet and five related case
pieces attributed to Van Mekeren are obvi-
ous as well. 10 The one in the Museum is
noticeably smaller in size than the rest, for
instance. Whereas the doors of the other
cabinets display large flower arrangements
in vases that are placed on the edge of a
table,' ' the composition in which the sump-
tuous floral bunches are tied with ribbons
appears to be unique to the present piece.
This design is related to the decoration of
one of the tables attributed to Van Mekeren
at Amerongen Castle, near Utrecht, where
additional loose blooms as well as birds and
butterflies have been arranged around the
bouquet. 12 Birds and insects present in the
marquetry of most of the other extant cabi-
nets are absent here, possibly due to the
smaller size of the piece.
Floral marquetry of such high quality is
rare, and only a few artists were skilled
enough to practice this costly and time-
consuming technique, which was fashion-
able in the Netherlands from the late seven-
teenth century through the first decade of
the eighteenth century. It may have been
developed during the 1650s by the Dutch-
born cabinetmaker Pierre Gole (ca. 1 6 2 0 -
1684), who was active in Paris supplying
many pieces of furniture with elaborate
floral marquetry decoration to the French
court (see the entry for no. 14). The technique
was subsequently very successfully practiced
by André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), cab-
inetmaker to Louis XIV of France, some-
times in combination with the marquetry of
tortoiseshell and brass that was named for
him (see the entries for nos. 23, 31). D K - G
1. Known as rhe Kistenmakerspand (Chesr-makers
Building), the shop was located in the Kalverstraat.
See Lunsingh Scheurleer 1942, p. 39.
2. "Recent Acquisitions" 19965 pp. 32-33 (entry by
Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide).
3. This attribution was first proposed in Lunsingh
Scheurleer 1941. For related pieces, see the cabinet
and table in the collection of the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam; Baarsen 1993a, pp. 56-59, nos. 25, 26.
One cabinet is at Charlecote Park, Warwickshire;
Baarsen 1988b, p. 225, figs. 2, 4. Another cabinet is
in the Victoiia and Albert Museum, London; Wilk
1996, pp. 76-77 (entry by Sarah Medlam). Two cab-
inets with matching tables and candlestands {guéri-
dons) are at Amerongen Castle, the Netherlands;
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1964, pp. 361-64. Another,
rather different, cabinet is at Belton House,
Lincolnshire; Baarsen 1988b, pp. 227, figs. 6, 7.
4. Lunsingh Scheurleer 1941.
5. "Vier blomdeuren onop gemaakt; twee tafels met
bloemen ingelegt meede onopgemaakt; een kasje met
gezaagde bloemen." This excerpt from the inventory
is quoted in ibid., p. 184. Constituting only a small
percentage of Van Mekeren's stock, pieces with floral
marquetry were no longer fashionable in the 1730s;
Baarsen 1988b, p. 226.
6. Manuels 2001, p. 2. Marijn Manuels, Associate
Conservator, Deparrment of Objects Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum, undertook the conservation
treatment of the Museum's cabinet.
7. Manuels 2001, p. 2.
8. Ibid., p. 3.
9. The engraving of Monnoyer's tulip, part of a design
showing a basket with flowers, is illustrated in
Katalog der Ornamentstich-Sammlung 1894, p. 297.
10. No technical study has yet been undertaken to com-
pare the structural aspects of all the cabinets attrib-
uted to Van Mekeren.
11. This decoration is found on the doors of the cabinets
in Amsterdam, London, Amerongen Castle, and
Charlecote Park (see n. 3 above) and on a door panel
derived from a similar cabinet in a private collection,
The Hague. The cabinet at Belton House is more
stylized, with a flower vase resting on foliage scrolls.
I2-. See the catalogue of a sale at Christie's, Amstetdam,
10-11 May 1984, lot 798.
28.
Traveling table (table de voyage or table de carrosse)
French, ca. 1700-1720
Carved walnut; gilt-bronze mounts; steel hinges;
linings of felt and leather
H. 28V1 in. (72.4 cm), w. 33% in. (84.5 cm),
d. (closed) 19V4 in. (50.2 cm), d. (extended)
58V4 in. (148 cm)
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
1982.60.81
The Chateau de Saint-Cloud, near Paris,
belonged to the dues d'Orléans until 1785.
In the estate inventory of the furnishings in
the rooms of Duchesse Elisabeth Charlotte
(1652-1722), called Madame, sister-in-law
of Louis XIV, there is mentioned a carved
writing desk made of walnut on pieds de
biche (doe's feet). The French term could be
taken literally, because zoomorphic feet for
furniture was a very fashionable conceit in
the seventeenth century. But the term could
also refer to the slim, stylized S-curved legs
of late Louis XIV and early Régence style
that suggest the sweetly elegant stance of
the deer. This leg shape, seen also on the
Museum's table, appeared about 1700 at
the latest—certainly not in the Rococo
period, as has long been maintained.'
This refined and ingeniously constructed
table 1 is a very rare example of a type of
multifunctional furniture that was speci-
fically invented for rough and space-limited
journeying via coach. Before the advent of
the automobile, a traveler could not count
on finding the comforts of home at a place
where he found himself benighted or
stranded by unforeseen events, such as a
broken axle—a misfortune that occurred
often on unpaved roads.
The fashionable pieds de biche of the
Museum's table are hinged to the top and
can be folded and locked underneath, mak-
ing the piece easy to pack away (fig. 46).'
When standing, it could be used for serving
food and beverages, and the raised molding
along three sides would prevent valuable
and fragile items from sliding off the beauti-
fully grained surface. The fine, flat-carved
decoration on the apron conceals a drawer
for storing utensils. The tabletop can be
79

extended by unfolding several leaves on
either side (fig. 47). These are supported by
steel pull-out bars. There is a surface covered
with leather for writing and another cov-
ered with felt for playing cards or dicing.CD
Fully extended, the table could accommo-
date a company of at least six diners. The
legs are decorated with a highly sophisti-
Fig. 4 7 . General view of the
traveling table extended for
dining.
80
cated design of low-relief carving incorpo-
rating floral sprays, small fruits, shell motifs,
and interlaced strapwork.
The only known walnut table with simi-
lar folding mechanisms is very close to this
table in its measurements. It once belonged
to the princes de Condé and is now in the
Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. 4
Fig. 4 6 . Traveling table
folded up for storage.
1. Koeppe 1996, pp. 184-85, fig. 5.
2. Baetjer et al. 1986, pp. 165-66, no. A.5 (entry by
James Parker).
3. Yet another name for this type of table is table pli-
ante, or folding table; Havard 1887-90, vol. 4,
col. 1208.
4. Brunhammer 1964, p. 64; Kjellberg 1978-80, vol. 1,
fig. 117; and Verlet 1982a, p. 132, fig. 29.
WK
2
9-
Mirror
German (Augsburg), ca. 1710
Silver by Johann Valentin Gevers (ca. 1662-
1737), except for the medallions, possibly by
Johann Andreas Thelot (1655-1734)
Oak and pine veneered with tortoiseshell, silver,
silver gilt, and green-stained ivory; mirror glass
H. 787/s in. (200.3 cm), w. 39V4 in. (101 cm)
On the lambrequin decoration at the top of the
frame is the pinecone mark of Augsburg for
the years 1708-10 and the heart-shaped mark
and initials "JVG" of Johann Valentin Gevers.
Wrightsman Fund, 1989
This sumptuous mirror beautifully evokes
the wealth of silver furnishings at the Ver-
sailles of Louis XIV (1638-1715) and, to a
lesser extent, at other European Baroque
palaces.1 Well documented in contemporary
descriptions, the 167 pieces of silver furni-
ture in Louis's state rooms, as counted by a
Swedish architect, Nicodemus Tessin the
Younger (1654-1728), were mostly made at
the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la
Couronne at the Hôtel des Gobelins, in
Paris. 1 Symbolizing the glory and magnifi-
cence of the Sun King, this opulent furniture
astonished and dazzled all who saw it.
Foreign rulers sought to emulate the exam-
ple set by Louis, and long after his silver
furniture had been melted down to pay for
his military campaigns, similar costly pieces
were still ordered for the state apartments
of princely and other aristocratic residences
all over Europe.
One of the most important centers for
working precious metals was the German city
of Augsburg, and many of the pieces of sil-
ver furniture known today originated there.
Unlike the furnishings executed for Louis XFV,
which were nearly all made of solid silver, the
objects executed in Augsburg consisted of a
wooden core covered by thin silver plates.
Augsburg silversmiths also supplied silver and
silver-gilt mounts for the embellishment of
luxurious objects veneered with tortoiseshell
and tinted ivory, such as the Museum's mirror.
The pronounced geometric projections
of the mirror's colorful frame are typical of
the South German Baroque. The feature
seems to have been particularly fashionable
in Augsburg, as is seen in the stepped stands
of clock cases, altars, and cabinets that were
also executed there. The elaborate silver and
silver-gilt mounts, however, rendered in a
strictly symmetrical manner, are French in
character. The volutes, bandwork, acanthus
foliage, tasseled lambrequin motifs, fruit
and flower baskets, birds, masks, and drap-
ery ornament appear to have been inspired
by the designs of the influential French archi-
tect Jean Bérain (1638/39-1711). Bérain's
decorative style was disseminated abroad by
Huguenot craftsmen who left France in
1685 after the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. Jeremias Wolff (1663/73-1724)
and other Augsburg publishers sold pirated
copies of Bérain's designs during the late sev-
enteenth century and early eighteenth century.
In addition, many German silversmiths had
spent several years of training abroad, often
in Paris, and foreign journeymen came to
work in Augsburg, stimulating the exchange
of ideas and adoption of new styles.
Marks on the silver-gilt lambrequin sus-
pended from the elaborately decorated crest
and overlapping the top of the mirror's
frame (fig. 48) identify it as the work of the
Augsburg silversmith Johann Valentin
Gevers and date it between 1708 and 1710. 3
Gevers was most likely also responsible for
the seated allegorical figures of Prudence
with a mirror and snake, on the right, and
Temperance holding calipers and a bridle, on
the left, as well as for the rest of the silver
crest decoration.CD This work suggests that
Gevers was familiar with Bérain's designs.
The four silver medallions with scenes in
relief, however, were probably not executed
by Gevers. They are in the style of Johann
Andreas Thelot, an Augsburg silversmith
known for his figurai reliefs, and may have
originated in his workshop. 4 It would not
have been the first time that works of these
silversmiths were used together. A magnifi-
cent Augsburg altar clock on table-stand in
the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich,
for instance, also combines mounts by Gevers
with reliefs by Thelot. 5 The cartouche-
shaped medallions that flank the top of the
mirror glass depict a courting couple dressed
according to the fashion of the French aris-
tocracy during the 1690s (see fig. 49).CD The
pair of medallions below may represent two
of the continents. The one on the right with a
crown, a scepter, and a horse as her attrib-
utes is probably Europe.CD The treasure
chest and camels in the background of the
left medallion may indicate that Asia is
depicted. It is unusual to find two rather
than all four continents represented in a
decorative scheme. Perhaps this mirror orig-
inally had a pair that was embellished with
representations of America and Africa. If so,
the crest of the pair may have displayed the
allegorical figures of Justice and Fortitude,
which, together with Temperance and
Prudence found on this piece, would have
represented the four Cardinal Virtues.
Pieces of engraved glass are inserted in
the superstructure and the lower part of the
frame. The largest of them is in the form of
a lambrequin with a silver-gilt, fringed, and
tasseled border and is mounted on the mir-
ror's cresting, underneath the baldachin-
shaped top. Probably resilvered, this section
is engraved with a female bust crowned
with laurel leaves and surrounded by a lau-
rel wreath and palm branches.CD
The wooden core of the mirror was first
veneered with tortoiseshell and ivory and
then set with pieces of glass according to
contemporary practice. To enhance the
color of the tortoiseshell, derived from sea
turtles, a layer of gold leaf was applied
underneath, and additional spots were
painted on the inside to increase its mottled
effect. Tinted green, the ivory was probably
colored with verdigris using a technique
described in manuals of the period. Tiny
nails, many of them now missing, were used
to fasten the silver mounts to the frame. The
plain strips of silver were not nailed but
placed directly on a wooden molding from
which they received their form. A mold, or
perhaps a special rolling device, was used to
shape and pattern the gadrooned and deco-
rated bands of silver.7 They were not
directly attached to the wooden molding
underneath; instead, a layer of resin mixed
with glue was applied in between. By press-
ing the thin pieces of silver on this adhesive
layer, the motifs were imprinted in the
underlying mixture as well. Some of these
silver bands were originally gilded. Much of
this has been lost through repeated polish-
ing, but traces are still visible in certain
areas that are hard to clean.
81

Fig. 4 8 . Detail of the silver-gilt lambrequin d e c o r a t i o n at t h e t o p of the mirror. Various silver m a r k s are
visible.
It was the specialty of a certain type of
cabinetmaker, referred to as Silberschreiner
or Silberkistler, to veneer the surface of fur-
niture with tortoiseshell, ivory, and occa-
sionally semiprecious stones. Since this type
of furniture was extremely costly, it was gen-
erally only made to order through an agent,
or Silberhändler, who served as middleman
between the patron and the various artists
involved. The agents submitted designs for
approval to the client, selected the silver-
smith to whom they supplied the necessary
silver, and chose the Silberschreiner, who
Fig. 4 9 . Medallion next to the mirror
glass at upper left.
82
mounted the different elements together on a
wooden core. In addition, the agents were
responsible for the packing and shipping of
the finished objects and for all the financial
aspects involved.
Although it bears some resemblance to a
mirror now in the Severoceské Museum in
Libérée, Czech Republic, nothing is known
about the early history of the Metropolitan
Museum's mirror. 9 During the twentieth
century it was, for a considerable time, with
the Parisian antiques dealership established
by Jacques Seligmann (1858-1923). When
the firm lent it to the "Chefs-d'oeuvre de la
curiosité du monde" exposition in Paris in
1954, IO it was described as "the single piece
of goldsmith's work most commented on in
the exhibition."" Subsequently in private
hands, this splendid example of German
Baroque furniture was offered for sale in
1988, 12 and the Museum acquired it the fol-
lowing year. DK-G
1. The text of this entry is adapted from an entry by
the present author in "Recent Acquisitions" 1990,
pp. 2 6 - 2 7 ; and ftom Kisluk-Grosheide 1991.
2. Hernmarck 1953, pp. 113-14; Buckland 1983,
pp. 271-79, 283; and Buckland 1989.
3. Seling 1980, vol. 3, pp. 23, 291.
4. Praél-Himmer 1978, pp. 4 2 - 4 5 , 7 0 - 7 1 , nos. 38, 39,
80, figs. 3 7 - 4 0 , 4 2 - 4 5 , 8 1 - 8 3 .
5. Illusttated in Seling 1980, vol. 1, p. 349, no. 1077,
and vol. 2, fig. 1077.
6. Kunst- und VJerck-Schul 1707, p. 1314.
7. Brandner et al. 1976, p. 60; and Rudolph 1999.
8. The silver turner Joh. Christoph Rembold described
the practice of these craftsmen in letters he sent to
the Augsburg goldsmiths' guild between 1699 and
1705: "[They] let the goldsmiths make plate with
which they then veneer and cover all kinds of mirror
frames, wall sconces, guéridons, tables, chairs, cas-
kets, and writing cabinets, etc. They decorate such
[objects] also with solid foliage, images, and many
mounted stones"; ([Siej lassen die Goldschmide
bleche schlagen, Fourniren und überdeken hernach
damit allerhand Spiegel Ramen, Wandleuchter,
Guéridons, Tische, Sessel, Trühlen und Schreibkasten
etc. Zieren auch solche mit Massivem Laubwerk,
bildern und villen gefassten Steinen); quoted fn
Rathke-Köhl 1964, p. 60, n. 223.
9. Discussed and illustrated in Kisluk-Grosheide 1991,
PP- 4> i5>% s - 17. 18.
10. Chefs-d'oeuvre de la curiosité du monde 1954, no.
306, pi. 145.
11. "la pièce d'orfèvrerie la plus commentée de l'exposi-
tion"; "La giace la plus extraordinaire" 1954, p. 67.
12. Allegedly, it was in the possession of J. Rossignol,
whose family offered it for sale at Ader Picard Tajan,
Paris, 17 March 1988, lot 87.
29

83
30.

Chandelier

English, ca. 1710-15
Attributed to James Moore (ca. 1670-1726)
and John Gumley (d. 1729)
Gilded gesso on wood; gilt-metal mounts
H. 46 in. (117 cm), diam. 46 in. (117 cm)
Purchase, Wrightsman Fund, and Mrs. Charles
Wrightsman Gift, by exchange, 1995
1995.141
This is one of a pair of chandeliers commis-
sioned about 1710 by James, third Viscount
Scudamore (1684-1716), for the state apart-
ments at Holme Lacy, Herefordshire. ' They
may have been ordered to celebrate his mar-
riage in 1710. In the richly decorated Baroque
plasterwork of the saloon and dining room
where they were hung, the chandeliers were
a particularly harmonious addition. Holme
Lacy later descended to the earls of Chester-
field; it was sold in 1910 by the tenth earl,
who in 1917 moved many of the contents to
Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire, where
the chandeliers remained until 1958. 2

84
 With its eight acanthus-scroll branches,
its lambrequined octagonal stem, and its gilt-
metal mounts in the form of feather-plumed
masks, the chandelier is in the French
"arabesque" manner of William Ill's archi-
tect Daniel Marot (1661-1752), who in-
cluded designs for similar chandeliers in his
Nouveau livre d'orfèvrerie, a pattern book
for goldsmiths. 3 CD
They are attributed on stylistic grounds
to the court cabinetmakers James Moore
and John Gumley, who specialized in finely
carved gilt-gesso furniture.4 A closely related
pair of chandeliers was commissioned from year to Gerald Hochschild. It was sold from the
Hochschild collection at Sotheby's, London,
Moore and Gumley by King George I (1660- 1 December 1978, lot 15. On 22 April 1995, it
1727) for Kensington Palace.5 WR was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum at
Christie's, New York, lot 243.
3. Marot n.d. (before 1703), pi. 6.
1. The house is illustrated in Latham 1904-9, vol. 3, 4. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 618-19 (entry by
Geoffrey Beard).
pp. 237, 247. The pair to this chandelier is in a pri-
vate collection in Canada. 5. One is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
2. The chandeliers are shown in a photograph of about London; the other hangs in the mansion house of
Brympton d'Evercy, Somerset, England.
1925 of the saloon at Beningbrough Hall in Fowler
and Cornforth 1974, p. 18, fig. 2. They were sold in
a house sale at Beningbtough by the dealers Curtis
and Hanson, 10-13 J u n e 1958, lots 638, 639. The
present chandelier was subsequently acquired by
William Redford, London. It was bought by Mallet
and Son, London, in 1972 and sold the following

31-
Commode

French, ca. 1710-20
Workshop of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
Walnut veneered with ebony and marquetry of
engraved brass on tortoiseshell; gilt-bronze
mounts; green antique marble top, reshaped or
not original to the commode
H. 34'/z in. (87.6 cm), w. JO'Á in. (128.3 cm
)>
d. 243/4 in. (62.9 cm)
Painted on the underside of the carcase in
eighteenth-century script: "3." Engraved on a
keyhole escutcheon are various marks, including
interlaced L's. Impressed with a chisel on the top
of the carcase: the roman numerals IUI, XII, and
XIII.
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
1982.60.82
In 1708, the prototypes for this commode,
then called a pair of bureaux, were delivered
to the Grand Trianon by André-Charles
Boulle. The due d'Antin, director of the
king's buildings, wrote to Louis XIV: "I was
at the Trianon inspecting the second writing
desk by Boulle; it is as beautiful as the other
and suits the room perfectly."1 Not until the
Trianon inventory of 1729 were the pieces
described as "commodes." (They are often
called commodes Mazarines because they
stood during the nineteenth century and the
first third of the twentieth in the Biblio-
thèque Mazarine in Paris.)2 From the begin-
ning, the design proved to be immensely
popular, although it has also been criticized
for an "awkward treatment of forms,"
meaning, in particular, the four extra spiral
legs that were required to support the
weight of the bronze mounts and marble
top. 3 CD Nevertheless, the Boulle workshop
made at least five other examples of this
expensive model, including the Metropoli-
tan's. Traditionally, they have been dated
between 1710 and 1732, the year of Boulle's
death; by 1730, however, the decorative
style of the Sun King's long reign had been
supplanted by the lighter forms of the
Régence and early Rococo, and a date of
1710-20 is probably more accurate.
It seems strange that the due d'Antin and
probably Boulle himself should have called
this new type of chest a bureau, yet they may
have seen it in connection with the bureau
plat, a flat-topped desk with a large writing
surface that was currently being developed.
A very fine example of the celebrated Boulle
bureau plat is the one made for Louis-Henri
de Bourbon (1692-1740), prince de Condé,
for the Château de Chantilly.4
The design of the commode reflects the
view of the late Louis Quatorze period that
court art should be characterized by opu-
lence and swagger. John Morley has pointed
out that "the extraordinary way in which its
body is, as it were, slung between the eccen-
tric legs is somewhat reminiscent of carriage
construction." 5 Indeed, if the tapering spiral
supports behind the paw feet could be
removed, the resemblance would be even
more striking. Like one of the splendid car-
riages that rolled down the road to
Versailles—a moving "billboard" for the
glorification of its owner —this commode
was intended to impress.
A look at some details reveals the unsur-
passed skill and artistic imagination of the
Boulle workshop. The three-dimensional
acanthus-leaf scroll mount on the upper
drawer was a signature ornament of Boulle's,
one that he employed on many pieces.7 CD Its
design is echoed in the light-catching two-
dimensional brass-and-tortoiseshell marque-
try on both drawer fronts. This refinement
extends the movement along the surface of
the piece and heightens the bulging appear-
ance of the body, as if some power within
was pressing the surface outward. This effect
of surface tension is one of the reasons why
Boulle's pieces dominate the space around
them, becoming the focal point of any inte-
rior. Extraordinary are the female figures
with paw-and-acanthus feet that support
the sarcophagus-shaped body (figs. 51, 52).
Fig. 50. Detail of the underside of the c o m m o d e .
T h e n u m b e r 3 painted on the carcase is possibly
a r o o m n u m b e r ; or, t h o u g h less likely, it m a y m a r k
the piece as third in a set of four.

¡5
The sensitive finishing of the bronze surface
of these sculptures is especially noticeable in
the matted, feathery look of the wings,
which is achieved by chiseling, and in the
sheen of the burnished areas.
André-Charles Boulle, who was named
King's Cabinetmaker, Chaser, Gilder, and
Engraver in 1672, 9 headed an important
workshop at the Louvre. He did not invent
the metal-and-tortoiseshell marquetry tech-
nique named for him (see the entry for no.
18), but he perfected it, and it bestows upon
his creations a unique look, raising them to
a level of artistry where furniture becomes
sculpture. Through his etchings Boulle pub-
licized his exquisitely fashionable line of
products, both stimulating and reflecting a
new taste for luxurious furnishings.10 Every
collector of grand French furniture has
acquired a "Boulle," either an original work-
shop example or one of the countless copies
that were made during the late-eighteenth,
nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.' ' WK

I . "J'ai été à Trianon pour voir le second bureau de

Fig. 5 1 . Detail of the m o u n t on the right front corner of the c o m m o d e . Like the other
Boulle; il est aussi beau que l'autre et sied à merveille
winged-sphinx m o u n t s , it is attached with exceptionally heavy screws.
à cette chambre"; quoted in Metropolitan Museum
of Art 1984, p. 206, no. 126 (entry by William
Rieder).
2. They were installed at the Château de Versailles in
1932.
3. James Parker in Raggio et al. 1989, pp. 20-21. See
also Louis XIV i960, p. 19, nos. 84, 85, pi. XXXV;
Samoyault 1979, pp. 68, 84-85; and Meyer 2002,
PP- 54-57, no. 9-
4. Arizzoli-CIémentel 2002, pp. 42-45, no. 6.
5. Morley 1999, p. 154, fig. 275.
6. Wackernagel 1966.
7. Hughes 1996, vol. 2, p. 644, no. 138. I am most
grateful to Yannick Chastang, London, for bringing
this detail to my attention when we examined the
commode, in the company of Mechthild Baumeister,
Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum, in March 2004.
8. The screws with which they are attached to the body
are unusually large. They can be seen as a particular
workshop feature, as they repeatedly recur on pieces
by Boulle. For a similar sarcophagus-shaped com-
mode, see Hughes 1996, vol. 2, pp. 632-38, no. 136.
9. "ébéniste, ciseleur, doreur et sculpteur du roi";
Pradère 1989, p. 67.
10. Ibid., pp. 66-108.
11. For copies, see Paolini, Ponte, and Sclvafolta 1990,
pp. 382, 393; and Dell 1992a, pp. 233-46.

Fig. 52. Detail of the right rear corner of the c o m m o d e from which the winged-sphinx
m o u n t has been removed, revealing the r o m a n numeral IUI punched on the carcase.

86
31
32.
Side chair
English, ca. 1715
Attributed to Richard Roberts (active 1714-29)
Beech and oak veneered with burl walnut,
gilt; covered in silk velvet
H. 41V4 in. (106 cm), w. 25 in. (63.5 cm),
d. 29 in. (73.7 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, i960
60.134.2
Purchased from a set of six offered at
Sotheby's, London, in i960, this side chair
and a matching example that is also in the
Museum are thought to be part of a large
suite—side chairs, two settees, and one
winged easy chair—commissioned by Sir
Robert Walpole, later first earl of Orford
(1676-1745), for the Restoration house in
Norfolk that he inherited in 1700.' Walpole
began to remodel the house in 1716 but
soon after, in 1720, decided instead to
demolish it and build a new mansion,
Houghton Hall, one of the great Palladian
houses of England. Where the set was
placed and how it was upholstered in the
original house are not known, but for the
new house, Walpole re-covered the set in
green silk velvet, the splendid material that
most of the pieces in this set retain.
A great deal of this material was used at
Houghton: as wall hangings in the Green
Velvet Drawing Room, on the famous bed
designed by William Kent (1685-1748) in
the state bedchamber, and in the adjoining
dressing room. The 522 yards of material
needed for these three rooms and for the
two suites of furniture they contained were
probably made in two weavings, which
would explain the color variation between
the celadon and olive green of the state bed
and the blue green of these chairs and those
in the other suite from these rooms. 1
The six chairs sold in i960 are now dis-
persed among four museums: the present
pair; a pair in the National Gallery of
Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; a single
chair in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London; and a single chair at Temple
Newsam House, near Leeds.3 In their
frames and upholstery, these six chairs are
identical to the chairs from the large set at
Houghton, but there is one difference: the
six have a close-nailed border above the seat
parcel-
Fig. 5 3 . T h e " C o v ' d " or " W r o u g h t " Bedroom at H o u g h t o n Hall, Norfolk. T h e chairs standing
against the wall belong to the same set as the present side chair.
rail, whereas the Houghton chairs have a
silver galloon trimming. There is also no
record of when the six chairs left Houghton.
Exactly how many side chairs were origi-
nally in the large set is not entirely clear.
Today eighteen side chairs remain at
Houghton from a set of twenty-two, four of
which were sold as two pairs in the
Houghton sale at Christie's, London, in
1994. 4 If those twenty-two chairs are
grouped with this set of six, the original set
must have contained twenty-eight side
chairs in addition to the two settees and a
single easy chair. On the other hand, it may
have started as a smaller set and been
expanded when the group was reuphol-
stered for the new house. Inventories at
Houghton record that the set was originally
placed in the "Cabinett" and in the "Cov'd"
or "Wrought" Bedchamber (see fig. 53).
The attribution to Richard Roberts is
based on an account of a considerable debt
owed by Walpole in 1729 to a "Thomas
Roberts." Thomas Roberts, carver and
joiner to the royal household, worked in
Marylebone Street, London, under the sign
of The Royal Chair, until his death in 1714.
He was succeeded by Richard Roberts, pre-
sumably his son, who was active at just the
time when Walpole redecorated the first
house. Richard's death date is unknown,
but his name disappears from the household
accounts at Houghton in 1729, when the
business appears to have been assumed by a
second Thomas, a brother or son of
Richard. The debt may have been to this
second Thomas or a holdover of an out-
standing debt to Richard. 5 Another set of
chairs of this model but with needlework
covers was formerly at Chicheley Hall in
Buckinghamshire and is now on loan to
Montacute House in Somerset. WR
1. Sotheby's, London, 29 January i960, lot 117. The
accession number of the Museum's second chair is
60.134.1.
2. The latter is the so-called Satyr-Mask Suite, from
which two pairs of side chairs were sold at Christie's,
London, 8 December 1994, lots 131, 132.
3. C. Gilbert 1978a, vol. 1, p. 57, no. 57 (16/60).
The chair at the Victoria and Albert is W.15-1960.
4. Christie's, London, 8 December 1994, lots 126, 127.
5. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 752-54 (entry by
Gervase Jackson-Stops).
6. I am grateful to the late John Cornforth for this
information. The set at Chicheley consisted of a set-
tee and ten chairs upholstered in gros point and petit
point. See Oswald 1936, pp. 535, 539, fig. 2.
32-
33-
Bookcase on stand
Italian (Rome), ca. 1715
Walnut and poplar; iron hinges and locks, metal
wire; antique silk and linen brocatelle door cur-
tains not original to the bookcase
H. 13 ft. 3 in. (403.9 cm), w. 7 ft. 10 in.
(238.8 cm), d. 2 ft. (61 cm)
Gift of Madame Lilliana Teruzzi, 1969
69.292.1
During the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies Rome was the capital of the Papal
States. All the important administrative
departments of the Roman Catholic Church
were located within its walls. Of these, the
Sacred College of Cardinals was the most
significant. Only its members could vote in
conclave for the next Vicar of Christ, a new
pope. To become a part of this powerful
body was the ultimate goal of everyone pur-
suing a career within the hierarchy of the
church. The Sacred College and the papal
household, the familia pontificia, were domi-
nated by a relatively small group of aristo-
cratic and cardinalitial families. Nonetheless,
there was also a steady stream of foreign
nobility into Rome eager to gain positions
or influence. Many of them lingered for the
pleasure of observing the many public spec-
tacles that were part of the display of eccle-
siastical power. Spectacle was an integral
component of daily life in the Eternal City,
and the line between a staged performance
and everyday routine was imprecisely defined.
In this milieu, keeping up appearances
was of the utmost importance. The design
of furniture naturally reflected this. In addi-
tion to large console tables with pier mir-
rors, ostentatiously decorated display cabinets
and bookcases were obligatory features of
the public rooms of Roman palaces (see also
no. 15).' At the Palazzo Chigi, the library
was designed by the painter, sculptor, and
architect Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680),
and its shelves were built by the famous
cabinetmaker Antonio Chiccheri, a special-
ist in wood-coffered ceilings. 1 Often pieces
were ordered in twos or even fours to achieve
a perfect symmetry in the stagelike setting
of a room. 3 The colossal dimensions of the
Museum's pair of bookcases—only one of
which is illustrated here—made them a suit-
able backdrop for the grandest occasions at
90
the Palazzo Rospigliosi, the residence on
Rome's Quirinal Hill of a distinguished fam-
ily with close ties to the Vatican.4 The book-
cases' heavy facades exude a strength and
enduring vitality in a way that is unusual for
furniture but is often found in the Roman
architecture of Francesco Borromini (1599-
1667) and his followers. They are an embod-
iment of the dramatic and vigorous design
of the late Baroque and exquisite examples
of sculptural furniture carving.5
The stands of the cases look much like
contemporary console tables. An artistic
detail of great refinement is the use of gro-
tesque masks on the aprons and legs.CD The
humorous faces relieve the composition's
heaviness, as do the carved draperies and
the noble lambrequin motifs, symbolic of
worldly and ecclesiastical power. This
fringelike ornament, sometimes with a tas-
sel, originated in medieval times as the scarf
worn across a knight's helmet. The most
prominent example of its use in later times
is on the baldachin by Bernini, erected in
1624-33, in Saint Peter's Basilica. That colos-
sal bronze structure was inspired by the
canopy used at every papal coronation from
the fifteenth century to 1963, when Paul VI
ascended the throne of Saint Peter.7 Here the
lambrequin alludes to the elevated status of
the Rospigliosi as a papal family and sug-
gests that the lockable cases, which resemble
the cabinets for church reliquaries, contain
books and manuscripts that are to be cher-
ished and guarded as "relics of knowledge."
The heavy broken-volute pediments sur-
mounted by a grand cartouche that once dis-
played the heraldry of the family are in
notable contrast to the stands. 9 The oval
frames are shaped like late Baroque marble
portrait or heraldic medallions of the type
found on Roman tombs or other commemo-
rative structures. 10 The ornamental language
has prompted a cautious attribution of the
design of the bookcases to Nicola Michetti
(1675-1758), who worked as architect for
Prince Giovanni Battista Rospigliosi from
1710 onward."
The Rospigliosi bookcases were bought
by Lilliana Teruzzi at the sale of Prince
Gerolamo Rospigliosi in 1 9 3 2 . " She recog-
nized the grandeur of the objects and com-
mitted herself to the purchase, despite the
fact that her Roman residence was not large
enough to accommodate them; when she
left Italy in 1939, she sent them to a ware-
house in London. They came to the
Museum in 1969, eighteen years before
Madame Teruzzi's death, largely thanks to
the efforts of Museum curator James Parker,
who admired her fine collection of Italian
Baroque and Rococo furniture and per-
suaded her that the Metropolitan, which
had relatively little in that area, would
warmly appreciate her princely gift.'3 WK
I am grateful to the late Princess Elvina Pallavincini and
Michelangelo Lupo for their comments and help with
this entry.
1. See "Recent Acquisitions" 1999, p. 34 (entry by
Wolfram Koeppe). (The table discussed in that entry
was acquired with funds from The Isak and Rose
Weinman Foundation, which was established by
Madame Lilliana Teruzzi, the donor of the present
bookcases, in memory of her parents.)
2. Waddy 1990, p. 56.
3. J. Friedman and Caracciolo 1993, pp. 14-15 .[with
an illustration of pairs of matching tables in the
Galleria Colonna, Rome); see also Walker and
Hammond 1999.
4. The accession number of the pair to the bookcase
illustrated here is 69.292.2.
5. Honour 1965a, p. 154, fig. 572 (a Roman showcase);
see also "Recent Acquisitions" 1999, p. 34 (entry by
Wolfram Koeppe).
6. "Recent Acquisitions" 1999, p. 34 (entry by
Wolfram Koeppe).
7. Fernández 1999, p. 152; and Rogasch 2004, p. 176.
For the lambrequin motif, see Fagiolo dell'Arco
1983, p. 139 (lower ill.); Kreisel and Himmelheber
1983, fig. 391; Koeppe 1991a, p. 70 and n. 20,
figs. 1, 7, 13; and Der Glanz der Farnese 1995,
p. 3 2 , fig. 12.
8. Koeppe and Lupo 1991; and Spiazzi 1995.
9. The panels presently in the cartouches (but hardly
visible in the photographs in this book) are modern
reproductions after historical photographs of the
almost illegible painted inserts.
10. J. Paul Getty Museum 1998, p. 81, no. 27 (entry by
Marietta Cambaren and Peter Fusco).
11. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1975, p. 256 (entry by
Penelope Hunter-Stiebel); Patterns of Collecting
1975, P- 4°> a n d Parker 1983, pp. 229-37, figs. 2-8.
12. Sale, Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome, 12-24 December
1932.
13. Draper 1994, p. 21.
33

91
34-
Card table

English, ca. 1720 carved gesso ornament on the closed top, Gilded gesso decoration originated in
Oak; carved and gilded gesso; lined with modern the frieze, and parts of the legs. Against a France. The technique was practiced in
felt; iron fittings
punched ground, the top is symmetrically England from the late seventeenth century
H. 29% in. (75.3 cm), w. 33V4 in. (85.7 cm),
decorated with a central strapwork car- and became most popular about 1730 (an
d. 14V4 in. (37.5 cm)
Stamped on the inside of the back frieze: touche enclosing a large quatrefoil of acan- example of that date in this catalogue is
"58907X." thus leaves. Scrolling oak branches with no. 37). Layers of gesso, a mixture of gyp-
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1963 acorns and tendrils surround this car- sum or chalk and animal glue, were applied
63.148 touche. The back corners are embellished to the wooden carcase of a piece of furni-
with a shell motif and those in front with ture. Once these layers had dried, the gesso
In his preface to The Court-Gamester an acanthus spray within a shield-shaped was cut to create raised ornament in the
(1720), Richard Seymour stated, "Gaming cartouche. A large shell flanked by palm reserved areas. The surrounding ground
is become so much the Fashion among the fronds decorates the frieze in front. The top was often punched with a small tool, pro-
Beau-Monde, that he who in Company is lined on the inside with modern green felt ducing a random pattern of tiny circles, as
should appear ignorant of the Games in and has four oval depressions, one on each on this table. The entire surface was subse-
Vogue, would be reckoned low-bred, and side. Placed off-center because of the hinges, quently water-gilded, which allowed the
hardly fit for Conversation." 1 Gamesters, or these wells were intended to hold the coun- possibility of burnishing the object. A tool
instruction manuals that set forth the rules ters of ivory, tortoiseshell, metal, or bone set either with a dog's tooth or a fragment
of various games, were regularly published that were used by wealthy players instead of of hematite or agate was used for this pur-
from 1674 onward, and tutors or gaming coins. On the circular dished projections at pose. 7 Only certain decorative details were
masters were employed to educate young the four corners, which are decorated with polished, in order to make a contrast with
ladies in the fine accomplishment of card a carved gesso rosette of acanthus leaves, the rest of the piece. This technique is
playing. 1 During the reign of Queen Anne candlesticks would be placed to provide the clearly visible on the frieze of the table in
(1702-14) the British government, hoping players with light during their game. front, where burnished elements of the shell
to profit from the passion for gaming that
kept the country in its thrall, went so far as
to impose duties on packs of playing cards. 3
Given the social importance of card games,
it is not surprising that during the late sev-
enteenth century special tables used for this
pursuit were introduced.
Resting on four slender legs that are dec-
orated with a carved lambrequin motif at
the knee and terminate in club feet below,
this card table has a rectangular folding top
with rounded, protruding forecorners. The
supporting frame is hinged in six places and
can be transformed from a rectangle into a
square when the rear legs are pulled back-
ward (fig. 54). The top can then be folded
back to rest on the expanded frame. Iron
hooks placed on the inside of the table pre-
vent it from folding inward once the table is
in use. This system, called concertina con-
struction because of its resemblance to the
musical instrument of that name, 4 was an
improvement over an earlier device, whereby
one back leg would swing out at an angle of
ninety degrees, supporting the extended top
but leaving the table slightly unstable. 5
The Museum's card table is entirely
gilded on the outside and displays fine
Fig. 54. General view of the card table partly extended.

92
and the palm leaves alternate with those
that are matt. By gilding the different pat-
terned and textured surfaces, wonderful
light reflections were produced, not unlike
those struck off solid metal. The embossed
silver furniture that was fashionable at
European courts during the Baroque period
may have stimulated the taste for such
gilded pieces (see the entry for no. 29).
Some English cabinetmakers specialized in
gilt-gesso furniture—James Moore (ca. 1670-
1726), for instance, who incised his name
on certain pieces—but it is not known who
executed this table. 8 It was among the few
gilded pieces acquired by the well-known
collector of English furniture Judge Irwin
Untermyer, who generally preferred objects
of plain oak, walnut, and mahogany. The
table is said to have come from the collec-
tion of the earls of Carnarvon at Highclere
Castle, Newbury, Berkshire.
DK-G
1 Seymour 1720, p. v.
2. Hargrave 1930, pp. 205-6.
3. Ibid., p. 182.
4. The concertina is similar to but smaller than
an accordion.
5. Macquoid and Edwards 1983, vol. 3, p. 194.
6. Joy 1982, p. 28.
7. Macquoid and Edwards 1983, vol. 2, p. 242.
8. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 618-19 (entry
by Geoffrey Beard).

93
35-
Side chair
Flnglish, 1724-36
Attributed to Thomas How (active 1710-33)
Walnut and walnut veneer, parcel-gilt, the seat
rails of beech; gilded lead mounts on the knees
and front rail; verre églomisé panel mounted on
the splat; covered in contemporary needlework
not original to the chair
H. 41 in. (104 cm), w. 23 in. (58.5 cm), d. 22 in.
(56 cm)
Numbered on the top of the front seat rail: "X."
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.936
Sutton Scarsdale in Derbyshire was remod-
eled and refurbished by Nicholas, fourth
and last earl of Scarsdale (d. 1736), begin-
ning in 1724. Probably shortly after that
date he commissioned a set of furniture—
comprising twelve chairs, two settees, and a
pair of pedestals—from which this chair
comes. He had his arms, painted in verre
églomisé (reverse-painted glass), mounted
on the splats of the chairs and settees and
on the pedestals.CD On his death the Scars-
dale peerage became extinct; thus, the arms
provide a narrow and very specific date range
for this set of furniture.
This use of a coat of arms on verre
églomisé is very rare (if not unique) in English
furniture of this period, as is the incorpora-
tion of pedestals, intended to support either
candelabra or busts, en suite with a set of
seat furniture. These features, as well as the
very high quality of the design and con-
struction, make this one of the most impor-
tant sets made during the period.
The attribution to the cabinetmaker
Thomas How is based on a lead plate found
in the courtyard of Sutton Scarsdale that
listed the architect and the fifteen principal
tradesmen involved in the remodeling and
furnishing of the house. 1 Among the names
was that of "Thomas How of Westminster,
Gentleman, Upholsterer." Although little
known today, How was one of the leading
furniture makers of the time, with premises in
the Westminster area of London. He worked
extensively for the fifth earl of Salisbury at
Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. 1
The twentieth century was kind neither
to Sutton Scarsdale nor to this set of furni-
ture. The house was abandoned about 1920
and still stands, though only just, as a vine-
94
covered, roofless ruin. While the set was in
France during the first decade of the cen-
tury, several chairs were lent to the Exposi-
tion Universelle et Internationale in Brussels
in 1910, where they were destroyed in a fire
in the British section of the exposition.' The
remainder of the set passed to Annie C.
Kane, in whose New York house another
conflagration, in 1921, destroyed more
chairs, a pedestal, and a settee.4
The known survivors of the set are this
chair, a matching example, and a pedestal
(fig. 55) in the Metropolitan Museum; 5 two
chairs now in the Frick Collection supplied
to Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) by Sir
Charles Allom about 1915-16; 6 two chairs
at Temple Newsam House, near Leeds;7 and
one chair at the Cooper-Hewitt, National
Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
New York.'
The chairs have been copied at various
dates. Sir Charles Allom had two reproduc-
tions made for Frick to complement the pair
of original chairs he had already sold to him.
Allom was one of the leading English deco-
rators of the time and was responsible for
much of the interior decoration on the main
floor of the Frick house. More recent copies
exist in a private American collection. In the
1920s, side tables and sideboards were made
Fig. 55. Pedestal attributed to T h o m a s H o w ,
to match the seat furniture. WR 1 7 2 4 - 3 6 . Walnut, verre églomisé panel attached
with gilded-lead m o u n t s ; h. 467s in. T h e M e t r o -
politan M u s e u m of Art, N e w York, Bequest of
1. Jourdain 1919, p. 171. Annie C. K a n e , 1 9 2 6 ( 2 6 . 2 6 0 . 9 8 ) .
2. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, p. 453 (entry by
Christopher Gilbert).
3. Boyce 1910, p. 142.
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977, p. 74, no. f28
(entry by William Rieder); and Rieder 1978a,
pp. 182-83.
5. The chairs were acquired from Mrs. Kane's collection
by the dealer Frank Partridge, who sold them in
1944 to Irwin Untermyer. The latter gave them to
the Museum in 1964. The second chair (ace. no.
64.101.937) is numbered "I" on top of the front
seat rail.
6. The numbers on the seat rails are "Villi" and "XII."
See Rieder 1978a, p. 184, n. 6.
7. C. Gilbert 1998, pp. 581-82, no. 696. These chairs
are numbered "VII" and "XL"
8. It was bequeathed to Cooper-Hewitt by Annie C.
Kane in 1926 (1926.22.58). This example is num-
bered "VI." See Hinckley 1971, p. 63, fig. 64.
35

95
3 6.

Secretary

Italian (Venice), ca. 1730-35
Pine; carved, painted, gilded, and varnished linden
wood decorated with colored decoupage prints;
mirror glass; the inside of the fall front lined with
silk not original to the secretary
H. 8 ft. 6 in. (259.1 cm), w. 3 ft. 8 in. (111.8 cm),
d. 1 ft. 11 in. (58.4 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1925
25.i34.ia,b
Fig. 56. General view of the secretary with the doors opened and the fall front lowered.
Influenced by the English bureau bookcase,
this type of writing cabinet was introduced
in Italy during the first half of the eighteenth
century.' The Museum's example consists of
three parts. The upper section is fitted with
two arched and mirrored doors that would
have beautifully reflected the light of can-
dles placed on the two small pull-out
shelves just below. Behind the doors are
thirteen drawers surrounding a central
niche (fig. 56), as well as various hidden
compartments and drawers rediscovered
during recent conservation treatment. 1 The
middle section has a sloping fall front that
encloses six tiny drawers as well as a sliding
panel that conceals a shallow well with two
additional drawers. Three large drawers
below form the third section. Resting on
four carved feet, the secretary is crowned by
a scrolling pediment and three urn-shaped
finials on the top. The construction is very
basic; all the attention has been lavished on
the surface decoration, which is executed in
a decoupage technique known in Italian as
lacca povera or lacca contrafatta.
Practiced by professionals and amateurs
alike, the art of decoupage consists of color-
ing and cutting out copperplate engravings,
pasting them on a specially prepared surface,
and varnishing them afterward. Conceived
as a cheaper substitute for Asian lacquer,
decoupage became especially fashionable in
Europe during the 1720s and was continu-
ously practiced throughout the eighteenth
century. 3 In 1727, for instance, Mademoi-
selle Charlotte Aïssé (1693-173 3) wrote
from Paris to her friend and confidante
Madame Calandrini in Geneva: "We are
here at the height of a new passion for cut-
ting up colored engravings. . . . Everyone,
great and small, is snipping away. These
cuttings are pasted on sheets of cardboard
and then varnished. They are made into wall
panels, screens, and fireboards. There are
books of engravings costing up to 200 livres;
women are mad enough to cut up engrav-
ings worth 100 livres apiece. If this fashion
continues, they will cut up Raphaels." 4
Attesting to its popular success, special
manuals containing step-by-step descrip-
tions of the technique and useful formulas
for varnishes were published in various lan-
guages. 5 Although some of these treatises
advised applying the ground color on a
preparatory layer of gesso, this was not
done in the case of the Museum's secretary.6
Now appearing green because the varnish
on top has yellowed, the originally light
blue paint, composed of animal glue and
Prussian blue and lead-white pigments, was

96
36

97

Fig. 57. Design in Oeuvres des étampes gravées
d'après les tableaux et desseins de feu Antoine
Watteau, a set of six engravings by Louis Crépy
fils, ca. 1727. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert N. Straus, 1928
(28.113(3]).
7
painted directly on the wood. Linden was
used here, and not only did its fine, close
grain provide a smooth surface but its soft-
ness made it easy to carve, as is suggested by
the gilded finials and feet of the secretary.
Colored and cutout figures, ornaments, and
scenes were next carefully arranged and
pasted on the drawer fronts, doors, and sides
of the secretary with adhesive. Contemporary
sources suggested using either gum water—
a secretion of plants or trees dissolved in
water—or fish glue, made of isinglass dis-
solved in a mixture of brandy and water.
Special prints for this kind of decoration,
often with a variety of motifs in different
sizes, were published in various countries—
in Augsburg by Martin Engelbrecht (1684-
1756), in Bassano by the firm of Giovanni
Antonio Remondini (1643-1711) and his
successors, and in London by Robert Sayer
(1725-1793/94). 9 Ornament prints by French
artists were also available for decoupage pur-
poses. The Mercure de France, for instance,
included an advertisement in November 1727
98
Fig. 58. Lacca povera decoration inside the right
door of the secretary.
for six engravings by Louis Crépy fils (fig. 57);
published by Edme-François Gersaint (ca.
1696-1750) in Paris, they were based on a
screen painted by Antoine Watteau (1684-
1721). The advertisement suggested, "[These
gallant] scenes on a white ground would
make excellent designs for decoupage, the
technique used by ladies nowadays to make
such pretty pieces of furniture." 10
Examination of the secretary's paper dec-
orations confirms that these prints by Crépy
(b. ca. 1680) were indeed used in this man-
ner, since the large figures pasted on the
inside of both doors were cut from a reverse
copy of the set (fig. 58). Most of the identi-
fied images however, did not come from
prints specially made for decoupage but
derive from a wide variety of French and
German sources. Executed by a diverse group
of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century en-
gravers, some of the Arcadian landscapes
with peasants and travelers are after paint-
ings by the Dutch artist Nicolaes Berchem
(1620-1683). Figures taken from at least
seven such engraved compositions after
Berchem are found on the lower sides, crest,
and top drawer of the secretary/ 0 Some of
the hunting scenes on the sloping fall front
originate in engravings by Johann Elias
Ridinger (1698-1767), who specialized in
the depiction of such outdoor activities as
horseback riding and hunting. Allegorical
figures, derived from a series of French prints,
were pasted on either side of the interior
doorframes and in the central niche.CD
Symbolizing seven months of the year, they
represent various gods and goddesses with
their symbols and signs of the zodiac, each
in a fanciful architectural frame. Reversed
copies of engravings after the tapestry designs
Les Douze Mois Grotesques by Claude
Audran (1658-1734) were cut up to provide
these personifications." Chinoiserie scenes
of Asians in horse-drawn carriages, sleighs,
sedan chairs, and boats, taken from unknown
print sources, are found on the small draw-
ers and inside the secretary's fall front. co
Some of these images—for instance, the
artificial rock formations found in Chinese
gardens and the natural bridge—were clearly
inspired by illustrations from the pages of
such travel books on East Asia as Joan
Nieuhof's Het gezantschap der Neêr-
landtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, first
published in 1665, or Pieter van der Aa's
La galerie agréable du monde of 1729.
Once the decoupage decorations were in
place, certain details in the landscape setting
as well as lines framing the scenes were
added with paint and gold leaf, and the var-
ious moldings were gilded. Finally the secre-
tary received several coats of varnish
composed of mastic, copal, and sandarac.
This not only created a smooth, lustrous
surface not unlike the lacquer it tried to imi-
tate but also helped to protect the paper cut-
tings and keep them in place.
Despite the hotchpotch of decoration,
a certain harmony of design has been
achieved by the skillful arrangement of the
images over both the interior and the exte-
rior of the secretary and by the consistent
application of a green, red, and orange
palette when coloring them. This harmony
and also the large size of the piece of furni-
ture and the remarkable dexterity shown in
cutting out very delicate motifs make it
clear that a professional artist rather than a
skilled amateur must have been responsible.
The existence of a nearly identical writing
cabinet, decorated with some of the same
prints, further underscores this point because,
very likely, the two pieces came from the
same workshop. 11
The Museum acquired the secretary in
Venice, and its overall shape and embellish-
ment also suggest an origin in this city,
where painted, lacquered, and lacca povera
furniture was very much in vogue during
the eighteenth century. As a rare surviving
example, it is a splendid testament to the
once popular art of decoupage. DK-G
I . Much of the information in this entry is derived from
Kisluk-Grosheide 1996.
2. This treatment was done in 2003-4 m t n e Museum's
Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation
by Gaby Petrak, Sherman Fairchild Conservation
Fellow, 2003-2004, under the guidance of Mechthild
Baumeister.
3. Metken 1978, pp. i o r - 7 .
4. "On est ici dans la fureur de la mode pour découper
37-
Settee
English, ca. 1730-35
Gilded gesso on walnut; covered in eighteenth-
century silk damask not original to the settee
H. 41 in. (104.1 cm), w. 67V2 in. (171.5 cm),
d. 26 in. (66 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1924
24.136.1
This settee is from a large suite of furniture
that comprised at least four settees, eight
side chairs, four stools, and two side tables.'
Of these, the following are known: two
settees and six chairs in the Queen's Audi-
ence Room at Windsor Castle; z twenty-one
side chairs (of which only two or possibly
three appear to be genuine) in the Queen's
Drawing Room and Presence Chamber at
Windsor;3 two side tables in the Long Gallery
at Upton House, Warwickshire; 4 two stools
in the Great Chamber at Parham Park, West
Sussex;5 and the present settee and one stool
(fig. 59) in the Metropolitan Museum.
The set has often been published as hav-
ing come from Stowe in Buckinghamshire,
the great Palladian house that was formerly
the property of the duke of Buckingham
and Chandos and is now a school. No set of
this (or larger) configuration appears in the
des estampes eluminées, tout comme vous avez vu
que l'on a été pour le bilboquet. Tous découpent,
depuis le plus grand jusqu'au plus petit. On applique
ces découpures sur des cartons, et puis on met un
vernis là-dessus. On fait des tapisseries, des paravents,
des écrans. Il y a des livres d'estampes qui coûtent
jusqu'à deux cents livres, et des femmes qui ont la
folie de découper des estampes de cent livres pièce. Si
cela continue, ils découperont des Raphaël." Quoted
from Lettres de Mademoiselle Aïssé 1943, P- 97-
5. See Anhang von der Laquier-Kunst, published as a
supplement to Teuber 1740. Jean-Félix Watin's
influential Lart de faire et d'employer le vernis; ou,
L'art du vernisseur, first published in Paris in 1772
and many times republished, also contained recipes
for decoupage varnishes.
6. Weil and Urban 1994, p. 95.
7. The technical analysis was done by Richard Newman
and Michele Derrick at the Scientific Research
Laboratory, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
8. Isinglass was recommended by J. M. Cröker in his
manual Der wohlanführende Mahler (Cröker 1743,
p. 187, quoted in Weil and Urban 1994, pp. 96, 99,
n. 7) and by Johann Martin Teuber in Mechanici
auch Kunst und Silber Drechslers in Regenspurg
(Teuber 1740, p. 203}. Jean-Félix Watin, in his Uart
du peintre, doreur, vernisseur (Watin 1778, p. 278),
"Inventory of the Household Furniture &c.
at Stowe House," dated January-February
1839, when Richard Grenville, second duke
of Buckingham and Chandos (1797-1861),
inherited the estate. 7 Nor does it appear
nine years later when he sold most of the
contents in the famous Stowe sale of 1848.
The catalogue of this sale is not a conven-
ient document for identifying pieces of fur-
niture, as the entries are frustratingly brief
(for example, "A noble pier table"). Many
attempts have been made to link pieces of
this set with specific lots in the sale. None
succeed.
Herbert Hall Mulliner was probably the
first to suggest the Stowe provenance. In his
book The Decorative Arts in England, 1660-
1780, published in 1924 and actually writ-
ten by Margaret Jourdain, it was stated
about the stool now in the Metropolitan
Museum that it was originally at Stowe. 9
The idea gained momentum in the 1930s,
when the two settees and six side chairs
now at Windsor (from the first group above)
were flatly described in the catalogue of the
W. Hearst sale in 1939 as having come from
Stowe.10 The next step was taken by Museum
advised using gum water, as did Robert Sayer in The
Ladies Amusement; or, Whole Art of Japanning Made
Easy (Sayer 1762 11966 ed.J, p. 5). The glue used on
the Museum's cabinet has not been positively identified.
9. The title of Sayer 1762 (see n. 8 above) suggests that
the subject is japanning; instead, the book offers
patterns and instructions for the art of decoupage.
10. "Le sieur Crépy, le fils, grave actuellement 6 mor-
ceaux en hauteur, d'après un paravant peint par
Watau, dont les compositions sont très galantes. De
pareils sujets, peints sur des fonds blancs, convien-
nent à merveille aux découpures, dont les dames font
aujourd'hui de si jolis meubles"; Mercure de France,
November 1727, p. 2492, quoted in Havard
1887-90, vol. 2, cols. 60-61.
11. Tapestries based on Claude's designs were woven at
the Gobelins Manufactory in 1709-10 for the Grand
Dauphin (1661-1711), son of Louis XIV; Fenaille
1903-23, vol. 3 (1904), pp. 73-80. The designs were
first engraved by Claude's younger brother Jean
Audran (1667-1756) and published in 1726.
Reversed copies of this series were made by Tobias
Lobeck and published in Augsburg by Johann Daniel
Herz (1693-1754) at an unknown date.
12. The near twin of the Museum's secretary is illustrated
in Morazzoni 1954-57, vol. 1, pi. XXXI.
curator Preston Remington in 1954, when
he declared that the Metropolitan settee was
made for Stowe.
The question of attribution remains as
unsettled as that of provenance. The set was
first attributed to the cabinetmaker James
Moore (ca. 1670-1726) by Ralph Edwards
and Margaret Jourdain in the third revised
edition of their Georgian Cabinet-Maker s
(1955).' 2 James Moore died in 1726, leav-
ing a group of signed or otherwise docu-
mented pieces that are consistent in style.
His tables usually have straight or tapered
baluster legs, often with stretchers combin-
ing distinctive diamond- and U-shaped forms.
The type of cabriole legs with lions' masks
seen on the present set are without parallel
in his documented or securely attributed
work.CD They are more closely related to the
legs on several groups of mahogany chairs
dating from the late 1720s and 1730s."
The present set is, in my opinion, by an
as yet unknown cabinetmaker from an as
yet unknown house, carved and gilded
about 1730-35, in a transitional style
applying an earlier decorative vocabulary of
interlacing patterns in fretwork on shapes
99
37

that were by this period beginning to be

carved in mahogany. A peculiar conclusion,
perhaps, given the extraordinarily high
quality of design and carving, but one that
reflects the present state of research. WE

I . This entry is based on Rieder 1978b.

2. Ibid., p. 9, no. I, pi. 21.
3. Ibid., no. II.
4. Ibid., no. Ill, pi. 22.
5. Ibid., no. IV, pi. 22.
6. Ibid., nos. V, VI, pis. 23A, 23B.
7. MS, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
8. Rieder 1978b, n. 11.
9. Mulliner 1924, fig. 58; quoted in ibid., p. 10.
10. Rieder 1978b, p. 10.
11. Remington 1954, p. 114.
12. Edwards and Jourdain 1955, p. 43, pi. 32.
13. Hackenbroch 1958a, pis. 100-103, figs. 127-30;
Victoria and Albert Museum 1965, no. 61; and
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977, pp. 78-79,
no. 136 (entry by William Rieder).

Fig. 59. Footstool, English, ca. 1 7 3 0 - 3 5 . Gilded gesso on w a l n u t , covered in eighteenth-century

Soho tapestry not original to the footstool; 20 x 22Vi x 16 in. T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of Art,
N e w York, Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964 ( 6 4 . 1 0 1 . 9 5 7 ) .
38.
Candlestand (guéridon)

German (Munich), ca. 1735

Linden wood; cut and gilded gesso; Tegernsee
limestone top
H. 345/s in. (87.9 cm); diam. of top 10% in.
(26 cm)
Anonymous Gift, in memory of Charles Bain
Hoyt, 1952
52.56.1

The candlestand, or guéridon, was a practi-

cal piece of household furniture used to sup-
port a candlestick, a candelabrum, or later
an oil lamp.' When sets of furniture with
matching ornamentation came into vogue in
the seventeenth century, candlestands became
an important part of aristocratic interior
decoration. In some cases their large size
made them impossible to move without
considerable effort. In the residences of the
very rich, parade sets were frequently made
out of silver;2 in most cases these sets com-
prised a side table, a mirror, and two guéri-
dons. Flanking the table, the candlestands
supported candelabra fitted with four or
more candles to maximize the light.3
Versailles was filled with silver furniture
until 1689, when Louis XIV had it all
melted down to pay his armies; after that,
the taste for it gradually diminished in the
European courts until the 1730s (see the
entry for no. 29).
The candlestand discussed here, one of a
pair in the Museum's collection,4 was made
to be moved about as needed among the
smaller rooms that became fashionable as
the eighteenth century advanced. Some
details of the decoration, like the trelliswork
on the legs (see fig. 60), are reminiscent of
silver furniture and of goldsmith's work.
The form of the stands is certainly based on
earlier silver designs.5 It is evident, however,
that the designer of this piece was familiar
with the new style of ornamentation that
was being adapted from France. The lobed
and shell-encrusted, or rocaille, formations
of the Rococo are present, but, as is also
true of the contemporary South German
commode in this book (no. 40), the basic
form of the furniture has not been distorted
or obliterated by them. The piece is a straight-
forward tripod structure, its bold scroll feet
clearly attached to the stand. The additive

Fig. 60. Detail of the front of the candlestand.
rather than fully unified nature of the deco-
ration suggests a date of 1730-35, which is
consistent with the trelliswork ground of
the gilding. During these years François
Cuvilliés (1695-1768) designed five elabo-
rately gilded console tables for the Green
Gallery at the Munich Residenz, where they
have survived, in situ, 270 years of turbu-
lent history.' They mark a major step
toward the fully Rococo silvered console
tables by Cuvilliés in the Hall of Mirrors at
the Amalienburg hunting lodge in the park
of Nymphenburg Palace outside Munich. 7
The Metropolitan's candlestands cannot be
associated directly with Cuvilliés; however,
their controlled and bold shape, the pictur-
esque lobed shell forms, and asymmetrical
ornament indicate that the maker had first-
hand knowledge of the decorative work going
on at the palace in Munich at this time.CD
The refined execution of the Museum's
guéridons indicates they were made in an
organized workshop incorporating several
specialized workers: a wood-carver, a gesso
worker, and a gilder. Guild regulations all
over Europe prohibited this type of privi-
leged arrangement, and only rarely were
they relaxed. Even at the court of Louis
XVI, after 1776, there were never more
than three privileged cabinetmakers work-
ing at the same time. 9 Munich, the capital of
the Electorate of Bavaria, was an exception
to a certain degree. In 1781, of the 38,000
inhabitants of the city no fewer than 5,000
had a formal appointment at or association
with the court as members of the Electoral
household (Hofstaat). The Bavarian Elector
was continually in financial difficulties and
succumbed to the temptation to raise money
by selling guild exemptions (thus the associ-
ated privileges were not as meaningful as, for
example, in Paris). The present candlestands
could have been made at the workshop
associated with the Elector's court; alterna-
tively, they could have been created at a
workshop in one of the large cloisters or
other religious communities in the region,
where medieval rights of asylum had been
extended to protect a luxury trade that would
otherwise have been opposed and perse-
cuted by the guilds. WK
i. Havard 1887-90, vol. 2, cols. 1225-32; and Reyniès
1987, vol. 2, pp. 716-22. For a late-eighteenth-
century English example, see the entry for no. 80
in this book.
2. R Thornton 1990, p. 232. See also Bencard 1992.
3. Koeppe 1991a.
4. The accession number of the matching stand is
52.56.2. The present stand was severely damaged by
a Museum visitor in 1997. It was subsequently
brought back to its former condition by Pascale "
Patris, Associate Conservator, Department of Objects
Conservation, Metropolitan Museum. On the beauti-
ful Tegernsce limestone set in the top of both stands,
see Grimm 1990, no. 177.
5. For examples of earlier designs at the Munich
Residenz, see Langer and Württemberg 1996,
pp. 122-24, n 0 - zo (entry by Alexander Herzog von
Württemberg}. For additional examples, see Koeppe
1991a; and Baumstark and Seling 1994, vol. 2,
pp. 326-402, nos. 76-97.
6. They were made by Wenzeslaus Miroffsky (d. 1759)
between 1733 and 1734. See Langer and Württem-
berg 1996, pp. 155-62, nos. 32, 33 (entries by
Alexander Herzog von Württemberg). For the "lobed
rocailles" in Cuvilliés's ornamental designs, see Laran
1925, pis. 23, 25, 69, 80.
7. Langer 2000, pp. 130-32. For an example of
Augsburg silver guéridon, see Baumstark and Seling
1994, vol. 2, pp. 486-87, no. 137 (entry by Gisela
Haase).
8. As titular head of all the guilds, the sovereign could
override guild regulations; Stürmer 1979a, p. 503.
9. Watson 1966b, p. 589.
39-
Card table
English (London), ca. 1735-40
Giles Grendey (1693-1780)
Lacquered and gilded beech; lined with felt
H. 29 in. (73.7 cm), w. 35V« in. (89.9 cm),
d. 36 in. (91.4 cm)
Gift of Louis J. Boury, 1937
37-"4
Part of a very large set, this card table and a
matching side chair (fig. 61), also in the
Museum's collection, are among the few
pieces of English furniture at the Metro-
politan that can be attributed with certainty
39
to a London maker. A paper trade label is
pasted underneath the seat of the chair iden-
tifying it as originating in the workshop of
Giles Grendey.CD The label reads: "GILES
GRENDEY, St John's Square, Clerkenwell,
LONDON, Makes and Sells all Sorts of
Cabinet Goods, Chairs, Tables, Glasses
etc." Not many cabinetmakers used such
paper labels, and Grendey seems to have
marked only a small number of pieces dating
to the period from about 1735 until 1750.'
Born in Gloucestershire, Grendey served
his apprenticeship with a joiner in London,
where he stayed the rest of his career as a
cabinetmaker in Aylesbury House at the
above-mentioned address. In 1726 one of
his apprentices filed a complaint against
Grendey for having beaten him in "a very
barbarous manner." 1 A hot-tempered char-
acter, perhaps, but nevertheless very suc-
cessful in his trade, Grendey did not work
much for the landed gentry and was prima-
rily known for his well-made but rather
common pieces of furniture in walnut and
103

Fig. 61. Side chair by Giles Grendey, ca. 1735-40.
Lacquered and gilded beech, caned seat; 41 Vi x
21 Vi x 19% in. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, Gift of Louis J. Boury, 1937
(37-II5)-
mahogany for middle-class use. Newspaper
accounts of an early morning fire on
3 August 1731 reveal that he also provided
furniture for export; the fire allegedly
destroyed one thousand pounds' worth of
goods in his workshop that were packed for
exportation the next morning. 3 Although
English furniture was regularly shipped to
Spain when the relations were peaceful
between the two countries, Grendey is the
only craftsman known to have been engaged
in this trade. 4 Many of these pieces were
adapted to the Spanish taste, having flat sur-
faces that lent themselves to opulent decora-
tion, often against a brightly lacquered
background.
The Museum's side chair and card table
illustrate this very well. Almost exactly two
hundred years after their arrival in Spain,
they were sold with seventy other pieces of
the same set from the salon at Infantado
Castle, near San Sebastián, the residence of
the dukes of Lazcano. It has generally been
assumed that this furniture had always been
in the possession of the Lazcano family and
that it was ordered during the 1730s, prob-
ably before 1739, when war broke out
between England and Spain. This may have
been when Don Juan de Dios de Silva y
Mendoza (1672-1737) was the tenth duke,
or otherwise later, under the eleventh
104
duchess, Maria Francisca Alfonsa de Silva
Mendoza y Sandoval (1707-1770). There
are no documents to confirm this supposi-
tion, and caution is needed because there is,
apparently, some evidence that the dukes of
Infantado built up their art collection
largely during the nineteenth century. 5 All
that is known for certain is that the German
dealer Adolph Loewi (1888-1977), who
had shops in Venice and, later, also in
America, visited the castle in 1930 and
acquired most, but not all, of the crimson-
lacquered suite of furniture. Stock records
show that Loewi bought fifty side chairs,
twelve armchairs, two daybeds, two pairs of
mirrors, a pair of candlestands, a card table,
and a tripod tea table. During the following
year Loewi sold some thirty pieces to the
lawyer, banker, and art patron Walter
Tower Rosen (1875-1951) for his Cara-
moor estate in Katonah, New York.7 Other
pieces are in public collections in London,
Leeds, and Melbourne.
The card table, with its slender cabriole
legs ending in pad feet, is a concertina-action
table (see the entry for no. 34).CD Its folding
top is decorated with a scene of a noble
horseman approaching a palatial structure
with blossoming trees in the background
(fig. 62). Accompanied by footmen carrying
banners and musicians playing pipes, he is
awaited at the entrance by several women
and their attendants. Variations of this
scene are found on other pieces attributed
to Grendey. The rounded front corners have
a heraldic beast inscribed in a circular
scrollwork border, and the central scene is
Fig. 62. Top of the card table.
framed at the top corners by diaper-patterned
trelliswork that encloses rosettes. The main
decorative element of the chair is the Asian
male figure holding an umbrella depicted on
the back splat.CD These exotic figures vary
slightly on each of the known side chairs;
the armchairs show a couple sharing one
umbrella. The frames of both the table and
the chair are further elaborately embellished
with interlaced designs, shells, birds, masks,
floral ornament, and trelliswork. Rendered
in gold with silver accents, now discolored,
and with many details such as the patterns
in the garments as well as the outlines exe-
cuted in black, the decoration is painted flat
against the lacquered ground and partially
over raised surfaces modeled in gesso.
Unfortunately, the japanned surfaces have
not reacted well to climatic changes; they
started to crackle and flake not long after
they entered the Museum's collection in
1937 and have been restored several times.
The originally bright crimson color has
changed to a dull orange-red but is visible in
those areas where the gesso of the raised
ornament is missing and the preparatory
ground layer is exposed.
The technique of imitating Asian lacquer,
in this case of red and gold Chinese lacquer,
was practiced in England not long after.the
first lacquered wares had arrived from East
Asia. Since the main ingredient of genuine
lacquer, the sap of Rhus vernicifera, was not
available in Europe, look-alike varnishes
were created, generally with either gum-lac
or shellac. 9 Various manuals, such as the
influential Treatise ofjapaning and Varnishing

Fig. 6 3 . U n d a t e d p h o t o g r a p h of the salon at Infantado Castle, Lazcano, filled with many pieces of the
suite of furniture by Giles Grendey.
by John Stalker and George Parker, pub-
lished in 1688, offered technical advice,
recipes, and designs to both professionals
and amateurs who were engaged in the pop-
ular art of japanning, as it became known.
This and other instruction books suggested
making colored varnishes by adding various
pigments: to produce the common red, ver-
milion should be used, but for a darker,
4O.
Commode
German (Munich), ca. 1735-40
Attributed to François Cuvilliés (1695-1768);
carving by Johann Joachim Dietrich
Pine and linden wood; carved, partially
and gilded gesso, partly incised; Tegernsee
limestone top
H. 33V4 in. (84.5 cm), w. 51V1 in. (130.8
d. 24% in. (62.2 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1928
28.154
deeper red, dragon's blood, a reddish resinous
substance found on the berries of the dragon
tree, was required. 10 Readers were advised
to choose metal dust, either of brass, which
looks like gold, or silver, for the decoration.
The advantages of japanned furniture
over imported genuine lacquer pieces were
not only that it was less expensive but also
that it could be made to conform to Euro-
When in the eighteenth century "a French
aristocrat or nouveau riche had a stately
(1690-1753)
home built for him, in Paris or in the
painted,
provinces, he was well advised to listen to
his architect's warning that the cost of con-
cm), struction amounted to no more than a mere
quarter of total expenditure, and that the
rest would have to be spent on interior dec-
oration in order to make the edifice con-
form to the accepted patterns of living in the
grand manner." 1 This wry observation in
Louis-Sébastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris
(1780) held true not only in France but in
other countries as well, since the European
upper classes looked to Paris for everything
pean taste and fashion. In this case the side
chair displays certain traditional features no
longer fashionable in England during the
1730S, such as the high cabriole legs that are
connected by stretchers and the caned seat
that was more suitable to the hot Spanish cli-
mate. A second card table, not acquired by
Loewi and possibly the one visible in the late-
nineteenth-century photograph of the salon
at Lazcano (fig. 63), was later in the collec-
tion of Richard Hoyt." Its present where-
abouts are not known. DK-G
1. Jervis 1974a.
2. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 371-72 (entry by
Simon Jervis).
3. Ibid., p. 371. See also C. Gilbert 1971, p. 544.
4. Huth 1971, pp. 38-39.
5. C. Gilbert 1971, p. 550.
6. For information about Loewi's life, see Raggio 1999,
pp. 4, 180, n. 13.
7. C. Gilbert 1978a, vol. 1, pp. 79-81, no. 61. Some
of the Rosen furniture was latet sold from Caramoor.
The sales were held at Christie's, New York,
2 February 1980, lot 215, and 14 April 1984,
lots 153-56.
8. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has one
daybed, and another is in the National Gallery of
Victoria, Melbourne. Temple Newsam House, near
Leeds, acquired a pair of armchairs and six side
chairs in 1970. See C. Gilbert 1971.
9. Macquoid and Edwards 1983, vol. 2, pp. 266-71.
10. Stalker and G. Parker 1688 (i960 ed.), pp. 24-25.
11. It was acquired by French and Company, New York,
in or before 1978; C. Gilbert 1978a, vol. 1, p. 81.
à la mode. But the princes of the often small,
scattered territories of the Holy Roman
Empire lacked the financial resources to
build and decorate on a grand scale. Thus,
economy and thrifty inventiveness reigned
in the workshops of most south German
courts. Appearance counted for everything,
trumping inconspicuous quality. In cabinet-
making, cheap pine or spruce was used as a
secondary wood instead of oak or other
hardwood for carcase construction, and
paint was chosen instead of veneer to
bedeck it. A handsome design in combina-
tion with an imaginative execution compen-
sated for skimping on the fabric of show
105
pieces that emulated much more expensive
Parisian works. This kind of furniture,
known as Bildhauermöbel ("sculptor's furni-
ture"; see also no. 3 8 ) / reflected the mutual
efforts of a designer, a cabinetmaker for the
body, an artisan carver (called in German a
Schneidkistler, or "cut-cabinetmaker"), and a
skillful gilder and painter (Fassmaler)?
The exuberant gilded decoration on this
commode—in particular, the corner terms
with satyrs' heads emerging from scroll
feet—alludes to the works of celebrated
Parisian masters of veneer and ormolu, such
as André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) and,
in the next generation, Charles Cressent
(1685-1768), whose metal mounts fre-
quently attract more attention than the
veneered furniture itself (see the entries for
nos. 31, 44). These heavy metal mounts
(and especially their labor-intensive mercury
gilding) were infinitely more expensive than
gilded wooden substitutes. This commode's
gilded decoration is not even completely
wood-based: the side-panel and drawer-
Fig. 64. Right side of the commode.
106
front ornaments are cut into applied gesso,
in the way plaster was applied to the ceilings
and walls of contemporary south German
churches and then painted and gilded so
that the architecture seems to vanish, creat-
ing the illusion of "heaven on earth." When
new, the skillfully water-gilded satyrs' heads
and openwork aprons could surely be mis-
taken for gilt-bronze. Comparable examples
that are less worn indicate that great care
must have been given to the final finish and
polishing of the gilded and painted areas of
this commode to achieve a smooth and
sparkling surface. 4 It is interesting to note
that in comparison with French furniture
the body is only slightly serpentine and that
the gilded ornaments form a refined frame
for the carcase in the way a precious-metal
setting intensifies the look of a sparkling
jewel. Only the functional hardware—the
handles and the escutcheons, which protect
the painted surface surrounding the key-
holes from being scratched by the metal
keys—is of cast and gilded bronze.CD Their
relatively flat surface—the result of a poor
job of chasing—is another indication that
economy played a role in the assembly of
this showcase piece.
The commode's design can be attributed
to the ingenious Bavarian court architect
François Cuvilliés, one of the leading expo-
nents of the Rococo style in Germany (see
the entry for no. 38). His celebrated furni-
ture designs influenced Abraham Roentgen
(1711-1793), the greatest German cabinet-
maker of the 1750S to the 1770s (see the
entry for no. 72).' The present commode
does not exactly match any of the twelve
commodes published in Cuvilliés's Livre de
diferents dessein de commodes between 1738
and 1742, which have more exaggerated and
noticeably bulging contours;' however, a
"Décoration de Lambris" design by Cuvilliés
illustrates a commode with carved bearded
heads crowning term volutes at its corners,
as seen here. 7 Furthermore, the gilt-gesso
decoration on the sides of the Museum's
commode, a female bust on an elongated
Fig. 65. Engraving in François Cuvilliés, Livre
d'ornaments à diverse usages, 1740s.
4°
C-scroll pedestal framed by scrolled foliage
and trelliswork, corresponds closely to an
ornamental engraving in the architect's oeu-
vre (figs. 64, 65). A characteristic Cuvilliés
detail is the foot, and especially its curling
element, which also appears in the furniture
at the Amalienburg hunting lodge at Nym-
phenburg, designed by Cuvilliés and carved
by Johann Joachim Dietrich between 1735
and 1739. 9 Dietrich's name is mentioned in
Munich court documents for the first time in
1729. On 14 March 1736, he was named
court sculptor and praised for "good work-
manship" in his appointment document.10
It has been suggested that the construc-
tion of this commode should be attributed
to Johann Michael Schmidt, but there is no
real evidence for this." Adolf Feulner con-
nected the commode with a display cabinet
in the Munich Residenz that has comparable
ornamental details and proposed that the
commode had been made for the counts of
Lerchenfeld either for Schloss Kefering, near
Regensburg, or the Lerchenfeld Palace in
Munich;' 2 but this, too, now seems highly
unlikely.13
In 1928 an advertisement for the com-
mode was placed in Pantheon by the
Munich firm of L. Bernheimer.' 4 This art
dealer had bought a closely related pair of
commodes of almost the same size in 1918
for a then record amount at the auction of
the collection of the Munich writer and
publisher Georg Hirth. 15 Two other pairs of
commodes, with only minor differences in
their measurements and with similar fea-
tures, are known: one pair, with female cor-
ner terms, is in the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles, and the other is in the
Archbishop's Palace in Munich, the former
Holnstein Palace, which was commissioned
by Count Franz Ludwig von Holnstein and
most likely designed by Cuvilliés."
During conservation of the Museum's
commode, diverse paint layers were discov-
ered: a lead-white ground without dirt
residue, then a blue layer and partial gild-
ing, covered in turn by the present color and
gilding. The commode may originally have
been colored blue and partially or completely
gilded.' 7 It probably had a pair, which, if it
could be located, might give clues to the orig-
inal appearance of both and to their original
provenance. The top of the Museum's com-
mode is a polished slab of mottled Tegernsee
limestone,' original to the piece.CD WK
107
I am grateful to Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator,
Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan
Museum, who restored the commode in 1989, for
discussing it with me. She contributed much valuable
information to the departmental file on this interesting
piece. I also thank Afra Schick, Furniture Curator,
Staatliche Schlösserverwaltung Berlin-Brandenburg.
i. Mercier 1780, vol. i, pp. 283-84; quoted in transla-
tion in Stürmer 1979a, p. 496.
2. Eighteenth-century inventories describe similar items
as furniture "with gilded sculptor's work." See
Langer and Württemberg 1996, p. 205.
3. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, p. 172.
4. In a conversation with the author, Josef Sieren, head
of the painting and gilding workshop, Verwaltung
der Staatlichen Schlössern, Nyniphenburg, Munich,
revealed that a pair of related commodes in the
Archbishop's Palace in Munich retain such a finish.
Details of this conversation are recorded in a note
Ín the archives of the Department of European
Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan
Museum.
5. Laran 1925, p. 8. Plate 65 shows a design for a writ-
ing desk ("secrétaire en tables pour Ecrire") of
1745-55 with a lean-to hinged fall front that could
easily be mistaken for a rolltop mechanism.
Roentgen must have seen this illustration, for he
started about 1760 to produce similar desks, first
with fall fronts and then with the fashionable rolltop
variant. On rolltop desks, see Fabian 1996, pp. 100-
102, nos. 214-19; for the hinged fall-front type, see
pp. 95-99, nos. 202-12.
6. File note of 24 October 1994 by Afra Schick in the
archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts; see also Laran 1925, p. 8,
pis. 32-35 (commode designs).
7. Laran 1925, pp. 9, 77.
8. Feulner and Remington 1930; Feulner 1931;
Schick 1998; and Laran 1925, pi. 22 (left), for a
related motif.
9. File note of 24 October 1994 by Afra Schick in the
archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts; see also Langer 2000,
pp. 130-36.
10. Poser 1975, pp. 123-24.
11. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, p. 178; and cata-
logue of a sale at Sotheby's, London, 13 December
2000, p. 34, lot 36.
12. Feulner 1931, figs. 2, 3. For Schloss Kefering, see
Bezirksamt Regensburg 1910, pp. 95-96, fig. 59.
13. Lerchenfeld Palace takes its name not from one of
the thirteen different owners this stately home has
had during its history but, strangely enough, from
a Lerchenfeld family member who merely lived
nearby in the early nineteenth century; Scheibmayr
1989» P- 577-
14. Pantheon 2 (1928), copy of an advertisement in the
archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts. It was acquired by the Museum
from Adolph Loewi (1888-1977), a Bernheimer
relative resident in Venice; on this collector and
dealer, see Raggio 1999, pp. 4-7, 180, n. 13.
15. The purchase price was 23,000 reichmarks, accord-
ing to an annotated copy of the auction catalogue,
now in a private New York collection. They were
offered again at auction in 2000 and in 2005; cata-
logues of sales at Sotheby's, London, 13 December
2000, lot 36, and 8 June 2005, lot 33 (the present
commode is illustrated in both catalogues). In 1927
the Museum acquired from the Hirth Collection a
pair of Rococo doors that may have come from the
Munich Residenz (ace. nos. 27.184.2-11).
16. These four commodes are discussed at length in
Schick 1998. The pair in the Archbishop's Palace is
in an exceptionally good state of preservation; see
n. 4 above.
17. On different color schemes for Munich Rococo
furniture, see Langer 2000, pp. 130-36, 166, no. 52.
18. Grimm 1990, no. 177.

41.
Fire screen
German (Würzburg), court workshop,
ca. 1736-40
Probably carved by Ferdinand Hundt
(ca. 1704-1758)
Carved and gilded oak; silk panel not original
to the screen
H. 58 in. (147.3 cm)> w- 4 2 ^ 'n- (I08
Gift of Louis J. Boury, 1935
35.23.1,2
Fire screens have been used since the Middle
Ages to shield those standing or seated near
a fireplace from the excessive heat of the
open flames and from flying sparks. Toward
the end of the seventeenth century, screens
of rectangular shape with a large central
panel of colorful fabric or other boldly con-
trasting material were developed to conceal
the dark opening beneath the mantel that
otherwise would interrupt the ornamental
dado and paneled decoration of the room. 1
The materials used for the frame of these
screens ranged from wrought iron or copper
to carved wood or even silver, and the panel
was often decorated with scenes from the
forge of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.2
Especially vulnerable to changing fashions
and fire damage, exuberantly carved screens
such as the present example have only rarely
survived. The purpose of the Museum's
cm
) screen is suggested by its decoration. At the
top, two snake-dragons that seem to breathe
fire from their gaping jaws flank the idealized
head of a woman in a shell-and-acanthus
cartouche.CD By turning their heads away
from the goddesslike image they protect her
complexion from damaging heat, a conceit
that conjures the ideal of feminine beauty at
the time.
Long thought to be of French origin, 3
this screen in fact represents virtuoso
Franconian Rococo carving at its sculptural
best.4 The expressive design and skillful
carving suggest that it was one of several
screens ordered for the lavishly furnished
palace, or Residenz, in Würzburg, the cul-
tural capital of Franconia, by Friedrich Karl
von Schönborn (1674-1746). As prince-
bishop of Bamberg and Würzburg, this
noble prelate ruled as the spiritual head of
the regional Catholic Church and as an
independent prince of the Holy Roman
Empire, who—in theory—held the emperor
as his feudal lord. The office of prince-
bishop, a political unicum of the Holy
Roman Empire and some neighboring
areas, was said to be based on the biblical
model of Melchizedek, who is described as
high priest and king in the book of Genesis.5
Since the prince-bishops had to defend the
various interests of both church and state,
they needed to amass considerable political
power and wield it skillfully to allay the ten-
sions that inevitably occurred. Moreover, it
was in the interest of the bishops to use
their office to increase the influence of their
family and to elevate it within the feudal
system. None of them understood better the
importance of using the visual arts to
impress friends and enemies alike with the
magnitude of their worldly power than
Friedrich Karl von Schönborn. During his
tenure, the palace at Würzburg became one
41

I09
Fig. 66. Detail of the left foot of the fire screen.
of the most magnificent and splendidly
appointed residences of the late Baroque
period. Friedrich Karl's architect Balthasar
Neumann (1687-1753) hired only the best
artisans to decorate it, and Ferdinand
Hundt was one of them.
Hundt settled in Würzburg in 1735 and
began work the following year in the west
wing under the supervision of Neumann,
who called him "the best of all ornamental
carvers." Closely related to the present
example is Hundt's fire screen of 1736 in
the Residenz, with a crest incorporating the
coat of arms of Friedrich Karl (fig. 67). The
exuberantly formed shell feet of that screen
are also conceived as scrolls with a C-shaped
volute emerging on either side (see fig. 66)7
Ornamental compositions with surging
Fig. 67. Fire screen by Ferdinand H u n d t , 1736. Residenz, W ü r z b u r g .
rocaille formations, cartouches, and dragon
heads characterize Hundt's designs for the
carved wood paneling of the audience cham-
ber (ca. 1742). A group of candlestands
carved about 1744 by Hundt also relate to
the Museum's fire screen in their details,
although their outline is unusually restrained.
Later, Hundt created fully developed snake-
dragons and shell-and-acanthus cartouches
for the palace at Bruchsal, built by Cardinal
Damián Hugo von Schönborn (1676-1743),
prince-bishop of Speyer and a brother of the
Würzburg palace's patron. 9 The blue fabric
now stretched on a removable panel set
within the screen probably replaced a very
elaborate decorative panel of silk or lamé
embroidered with precious silvered or gilded
metal threads. 10 WK
1. Havard 1887-90, vol. z, cols. 311-2.7; and Reyniès
1987, vol. 2, pp. 768-74.
2. Baumstark and Seling 1994, vol. 2, pp. 490-93,
no. 140 (entry by Gisela Haase).
3. Remington 1935.
4. Nevertheless, the crest motif with the central car-
touche and dragons is inspired by French designs, as
the similar carved back of an earlier daybed at the
Museum documents (ace. no. 22.144); Rogers 1922,
p. 260.
5. Genesis 14:18-24.
6. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, p. 194; and Fleming
and Honour 1989, p. 406.
7. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, fig. 521.
8. Ibid., fig. 516.
9. Ibid., figs. 523, 569.
10. Compare Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, fig. 598;
Langer and Württemberg 1996, p. 127, no. 21 (entry
by Alexander, Herzog von Würrtemberg); Langer
2000, p. 179, no. 60; and Langer 2002, p. 229, no. 73
(entry by Edgar Bierende).
4 2.

Commode

French (Paris), ca. 1740-45

ease with which one could store clothes and
Bernard van Risenburgh II (ca. 1696-ca. 1767)
finery in the drawers and on the shelves of a
Oak veneered with panels of Chinese
Coromandel lacquer and European black- commode than in the coffers or trunks com-
lacquered veneer; gilt-bronze mounts; brèche monly used earlier.1 By the middle of the
d'Alep marble top eighteenth century, commodes were found
H. 34 in. (86.4 cm), w. 63 in. (160 cm),
not only in bedrooms and dressing rooms
d. 25V4 in. (64.1 cm)
but also in official reception rooms, often in
Stamped once on the top of each leg underneath
the marble slab: "B.V.R.B." pairs on opposite walls. Candelabra, busts,
The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, and mounted porcelain vases were placed
Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973 on their marble tops, which may have been
1974.356.189
selected to match the marble of the mantel-
piece in the same room.
First introduced at the beginning of the Stamped four times with the initials
eighteenth century, the commode, or chest "B.V.R.B.," the Museum's commode was
with drawers, became one of the principal the work of Bernard van Risenburgh II, 1
pieces of case furniture in the French inte- a cabinetmaker known for exquisite pieces
rior. Its name, derived from the word com- veneered, like this one, with Asian lacquer.CD
modité (convenience), reflects the greater In most cases the lacquer is Japanese, but
some of Van Risenburgh's commodes and
corner cabinets are decorated with Chinese
Coromandel lacquer instead. The latter dif-
fers from black and gold Japanese lacquer
in that its designs are not painted on the
surface but are incised and filled with col-
ored lacquer. Objects decorated in this fash-
ion—especially large multileaf screens—were
shipped to Europe by way of the Coromandel
coast of southeast India, where the British
East India Company had a trading post.
Indicating a certain vogue for this kind
of furniture, eight single Coromandel com-
modes were sold by the dealer in luxury
goods Lazare Duvaux (ca. 1703-1758)
between November 1748 and August 1753.
One of them was purchased by the mar-
quise de Pompadour (1721-1764), mistress

.;,,..,/.'•
Fig. 6 8 . Back of the c o m m o d e .
of Louis XV (1710-1774) and a discerning
patron of the arts. 1
In creating this commode Van Risen-
burgh must have been guided by the size of
the Coromandel lacquer panels available to
him as well as by the shape of the gilt-
bronze mounts. 4 He seems to have carefully
selected pieces of lacquer with an interesting
pictorial decoration to use as veneer for
both the drawers and the sides. An image
with five figures, for instance, was chosen
for the center.CD This was cut with great
difficulty horizontally and bent slightly to fit
the drawer fronts. The lacquer is thought to
have been derived from a late-seventeenth-
century Coromandel chamber screen with
panels that were tall rather than wide. 5 This
would explain why separate, unrelated
figurative scenes, similarly cut and bent,
were used to flank the central part. Square
pieces of lacquer showing fantastic animals
in a landscape setting were chosen for the
double-curving sides.CD These panels may
not have been large enough to cover an
entire side since they are surrounded by
black-lacquered veneer. This veneer is deco-
rated with a painted frame matching the
Chinese lacquer in its colors. Clearly inspired
by borders found on Coromandel screens,
the floral motifs painted in imitation of a
112
crackled lacquer surface are very realisti-
cally rendered.
The elegant scrolling mounts also played
an important role. Not only did their curv-
ing outline determine the shape of the draw-
ers and the apron but the central cartouche,
composed of C-motifs, inverted-C-motifs,
and rocailles, also visually divided the
facade of the commode into three parts. It
seems very likely that Van Risenburgh had
these mounts in hand before he completed
the commode, or else he owned the bronze
models for them (the inventory of furniture
and goods drawn up in 1764 and sold to
his son and successor, Bernard van Risen-
burgh III [ca. 1731-1800], included a num-
ber of models, molds, and unfinished
mounts). 6 He affixed identical mounts to
several other commodes decorated with
Coromandel lacquer.7
The drawers of this commode are not
fitted with handles, making it impossible to
open them without pulling on the key. This
is a rather impractical feature of what was
essentially invented as a convenient piece of
case furniture. It indicates that commodes
had become very fashionable in the mid-
eighteenth century and were often consid-
ered as display pieces rather than used for
actual storage. The carcase is carefully fash-
ioned of beveled panels set into a frame, as
can be clearly seen on the back of the com-
mode (fig. 68). This type of construction,
which allows the wood to expand and con-
tract without cracking, is considered typical
of the cabinetmaker's high-quality work.
The Museum's commode, with its color-
ful brèche d'Alep marble top, is very close in
size and description to two Coromandel
commodes that were sold separately by
Duvaux to the same client, a certain M. de
La Reynière, in 1748 and 1753. 9 The fact
that the Museum's commode can be dated
for stylistic reasons to 1740-45, however,
makes it unlikely that it was one of them. A
nearly identical piece, possibly its pair, is in
a private collection. 10 Before its acquisition
in 1947 by Mr. and Mrs. Lesley Sheafer of
New York, the Museum's commode was in
two distinguished Parisian collections, that
of Antoine-Alfred Agénor, duc de Gramont
(1851-1925), 1 1 and that of Baron Edmond
de Rothschild (1845-1934).' 1 DK-G
1. Havard 1887-90, vol. 1, col. 930.
2. Hackenbroch and Parker 1975, no. 1; and Rieder
1994, PP-37, 39» fig- 13-
3. Duvaux 1873 (1965 ed.), vol. 2, pp. 4, 31-32, 41,
52, 63, 64, 98, 168, nos. 33, 324, 419, 525, 623, 634,
919, 149e.
4. See the discussion of this commode and related ones"
in Wolvespetges 2000, pp. 186-87, 2.55, 257, fig. 84.
5. Impey and Kisluk-Grosheide 1994, pp. 55-56, 59,
pi. VI, fig. 17.
6. Pradère 1989, p. 199.
7. One of them, in a German private collection, has
been considered the pair to the Museum's commode;
see Bresinsky 1988, pp. 201, 204-7, figs. 3-5.
Another closely related commode is illustrated in
Baroli 1957, p. 58. That piece was sold at Christie's,
New York, 22-23 October 2003, lot 670.
8. See Wilk 1996, p. 102 (entry by Carolyn Sargentson).
9. The first was described as "une commode à pieds de
biche plaquée en vernis de Coromandel, garnie
partout de bronze doré d'or moulu, avec son marbre
de brèche d'Alep de cinq pieds," and the second as
"une commode vernis de Coromandel, de cinq pieds,
garnie partout de bronze d'oré d'or moulu, le marbre
de brèche d'Alep, 960 Livres"; Duvaux 1873 (1965
ed.), vol. 2, p. 4, no. 33, p. 168, no. 1496.
i o . See n. 7 above.
11. Sold from his collection at the Galerie Georges Petit,
Paris, 22 May 1925, lot 62.
12. This information comes from the purchase record
of Mr. and Mrs. Sheafer in the archives of the
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative
Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
43-
Side table
English, ca. 1740-45
Attributed to Matthias Lock (ca. 1710-1770),
after a design by Henry Flitcroft (1697-1769)
Pine; marble top
H. 35V4 in. (90.8 cm), w. 68% in. (173.4 ¿m),
d. 34V1 in. (87.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1926
26.45
This boldly carved table, a masterpiece of
Palladian design, has legs in the form of
large console brackets, and in the center of
the frieze is a mask of Hercules draped with
the pelt of the Nemean Lion. The frieze is
ornamented with a Vitruvian-scroll pattern,
and each side is centered with a large con-
cave shell below the frieze. The table was
intended for a dining room and has no
stretcher or connecting element at the base
between the two sides, leaving room for a
wine cooler below. It closely corresponds to
a pencil drawing attributed to the furniture
designer and carver Matthias Lock in an
album of his drawings in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London. 1 It also, however,
belongs to a group of very similar tables
from houses in most of which the architect
Henry Flitcroft worked: Ditchley House in
Oxfordshire (a pair of tables now at Temple
Newsam House, near Leeds), z Wentworth
Woodhouse in South Yorkshire, Wimpole
Hall in Cambridgeshire,' and Shugborough
Hall in Staffordshire (a pair of tables
belonging to the earl of Litchfield). Flitcroft
is recorded in the Ditchley papers as having
supplied five designs for table frames there
in 1740-41. 4 It has therefore been suggested
that this group of tables was designed by
Flitcroft and carved by Lock.
The provenance of the present table is
unknown during the eighteenth century. It
was acquired at some point during the
nineteenth century for Hamilton Palace in
South Lanarkshire, Scotland, and after the
Hamilton Palace sale in 1919 it was bought
by the famous industrialist Viscount Lever-
hulme (1851-1925), from whom it was
acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in 1926. All of the other tables of this
model are painted white and have gilt carv-
ing, which was probably the original state
of this table.
Although Matthias Lock is better known
for his many books of designs for furniture
in the Rococo style, he also worked in the
earlier Palladian fashion, as seen in another
design by him in the Victoria and Albert
Museum for a side table. 5
Henry Flitcroft began his career in 1720
as assistant to the architect Lord Burlington
(1695-1753) and eventually became known
113
as "Burlington Harry." He then worked for
the crown, continuing in the Office of
Works, succeeding William Kent (1685-
1748) as master mason and deputy surveyor
in 1748, and became comptroller of the
works in 1758. He is often regarded as the
44.
Commode
French (Paris), ca. 1745-49
Charles Cressent (1685-1768)
Pine and oak veneered with amaranth and bois
satiné; drawer bottoms of walnut, drawer sides of
oak, drawer fronts of pine; gilt-bronze
Portar marble top
H. 34'A in. (87.6 cm), w. 55 in. (139.7 cm
)>
d. 22I/4 in. (57.8 cm)
The mounts are stamped in several places with
the crowned-C mark. Pasted to the top
the marble is the trade card of the dealer Jean
Rousselot: "Au chasteau de Vincennes, rue
de la Monoye, vis à vis la Porte des Balanciers
de la Monoye, Rousselot, Marchand-Mercier-
Joyalier, Vend Glaces de toutes grandeurs
les Appartements & Carrosses, Miroirs, Tru-
meaux & Cheminées de Glace de toutes
Bureaux, Commodes, Secretaires, Tables,
Cabarets, Toilettes & autre Ouvrages de Mar-
queterie & Ebenisterie de toutes sortes de Bois
& Vernis, enrichis de Bronze dorée d'or
ou en couleur; Tables de Marbre sans pieds &
avec pieds, & autres Emmeublements de Bois
sculptez & dorez; Bras, Feux, Flambeaux
autres Ouvrages de Cuivre dorez d'or ...
argentez, en couleur, ou vernis; Porcelain de la
Chine & du Japon, garnies ou non garnies . .."
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
1982.60.56
Among the Parisian cabinetmakers special-
izing in veneered and marquetried pieces
(ébénistes), Charles Cressent was an excep-
tion. Born in Amiens, he was trained as a
sculptor, like his father. His grandfather,
however, had been a menuisier, or maker of
joined furniture. Once in Paris, Charles
worked for the cabinetmaker Joseph Poitou
(ca. 1682-1718), ébéniste to Philippe, duc
d'Orléans (1674-1723), the regent of
France between 1715 and 1723. By marry-
ing Claude Chevanne, Poitou's widow, in
1719, Cressent was able to continue his
master's successful workshop and became,
in his turn, cabinetmaker to the regent. 1
114
ablest of the second generation of architects 3. Jackson-Stops 1985, pp. 234-35, n o - r 55 (entry by
Gervase Jackson-Stops).
working in the eighteenth century in the
4. Oxford Record Office, DILJ/9/3.1.
Palladian style.6 WR 5. Coleridge 1968, p. 183, fig. 93.
6. Colvin 1954, pp. 206-9.
1. Ward-Jackson 1958, p. 40, fig. 48.
2. C. Gilbert 1978a, vol. 2, pp. 353-56, no. 446.
Cressent had other important clients as the few cabinetmakers whose name appears
well, not only in France but also abroad, in eighteenth-century sale catalogues.'
such as King John V of Portugal (1689- Although Cressent did not sign a single
mounts;
1750) and Charles Albert, Elector of piece of furniture, a considerable body of
Bavaria (1697-1745), for instance, and was work has been attributed to him, including
himself a notable art collector. Unlike most the Museum's commode. 4 One of a group of
cabinetmakers, who worked for the dealers six known commodes of this model, it
in luxury goods known as marchands- shows his highly individual and very sculp-
beneath
merciers, Cressent generally sold his pieces tural manner. 5 The outline of the bowfront
himself and had elegantly furnished show- facade, of the rounded corners, and of the
rooms on the second floor of the buildings undulating sides is repeated in the form of
that accommodated his home and atelier, in the Portor marble top. Supported on four
pour
the rue Joquelet, a small street between the tall legs, the commode is fitted on the front
façons;
rue Notre-Dame des Victoires and the rue with two drawers that are separated by á"
Coffres, Montmartre. 2 Working largely in the Ré- horizontal divison, or traverse, visible only
gence style, the transitional phase between on either side of a central cartouche. This
Baroque and Rococo, Cressent was one of central section is veneered with amaranth in
moulu,
&
feuille,
W^^mWKt^ÊMmm^^w^^m^w- îlS-T^B
km CHASTEAU vlfl
P D Ë VINCENTS, kim
v
' 'jmW
HMF~''-'''> 61
ft j j ^ t / i ? £ » $ ; • t\A MONOTE,
B & v¡^$fJh ¡a., fijirtt.âes ^rd'tnthrs ùe Í4. Monoye.
• f e ) ' ï 5 O a.S'sEL Ö T . M. ir 1 Merckr - Joy alice: ' á^B
wEßr- ES- Vt'iid.Gljccsdc mures ^ >¡J- ..rs ¡JJ-urJcr Ápp*rr¿- [¿ÌWÈ
B - ' J m'ônîs&CarfoiTiîs, MiwVs-rTïutp'i.ux & f^Kcmiaé« de
W r i ' j •. Glace-de routes tapons ; [iii'reiMixs Commode;, '•_•• rt'^rvs, - • •
ffiy Ta' 'es j'Oùfl'réa , Oh.itzr~, '' qMtei , 5f an rC**C.i\>gSs v
B ^ c de ivísmuítcnc & KhcntjVetie'ete tories ¡fotTr< Í**<oi$ & '^-fl ~S
^ ß ^ Vernis , cime lui de IkâîrÎMÎ floree d'or moulu ,cu cñf c-ttf-
^K'?*> leiij- ; Tib'es de Mari'rc^ßns r>ic-di 5c avec .pieds, SCa.u',c$
M î p K'ii'- CJ S'c merits de Buis fculptez \ "<îprcz-'i BtiiS", Feux ,
Bj^3 Vtajî;..'.'"-;^-. 5l .T.:.reí. Cuvmgös au Cuivre dor:?., d'or ';i'j^H
^^^§'"'.^F.'.MMJä.i jvjilL- j 2(gi>.*tc2 , eil c u''ur, oit vcnjis j t'or- ''"M
Bi'-!cc*<^^B4#n--.U|.;ne & *-' ' Jap«**'ga.ciíiej ou non gañiles^ t-^B
M f i ^ & i ^ f t * ) : ' ^ " ¿ & / A j : l f i &HMufr's, CafTftit.is £i ."'c^9
W^ËÈ ¡&ïfflt' b ^ • 'l<< "iiob-Inv - r î '^>ï$M
&9fl
E^t-V SjB |»MSfò' ÍVW, .'".T. v\" .
H*& d.flB |Jp'.C:?fel ; <•<>-•• ¿M
WÊ\ ^ " ^ B i." rie ^: jowicrie--' -\-wti; vCn-
H¿Í^?^H H p ^ . J y k a ^ B t ^ , Mû tiïrs. Guet'r-
Kr^ttftWn .nhiécr.-inoMtt , racconirric !c £
¡ 9 L ' J * • ì~>" tQw-i i ¡fi* n*«;; ¿. .arti
8 : ' ••'• WEß^ •+-X?:A7* ja ^^1
Fig. 69. Trade label of the
K&^-ySiai dealer Jean Rousselot,
pasted to the t o p of the
commode.
a V-shaped pattern. Trelliswork marquetry
of bois satiné enclosing quartered lozenges
of the same wood is used for the rest of the
facade and for the sides, each of which has a
single door that opens to a cupboard.
Particularly noteworthy are the bold and
very decorative gilt-bronze mounts that are
such essential elements in Cressent's work.
These include Zephyr heads at either side
(fig. 70), large scrolling acanthus leaves at
the corners, and in the front a charming
scene of two boys emerging from acanthus
leaves who swing a monkey on a knotted
rope.CD These gilded bronzes are clearly
echoed in the outline of the amaranth
veneer on which they are mounted, creating
a great harmony in the overall design. As a
sculptor, Cressent not only took special
interest in the mounts but had them, against
guild regulations, cast and finished in his
own workshop, which brought him repeat-
edly into difficulties with the guilds of the
fondeurs-ciseleurs (casters and chasers) and
ciseleurs-doreurs (chasers and gilders).
This type of commode with cupboards at
the sides and highly original bronzes can be
clearly recognized in the detailed descrip-
tions of the sale catalogues for the three
auctions that Cressent, when pressed by
financial difficulties, organized of his own
stock and art collections. The first cata-
logue, of 1749, in which a pair of such com-
modes are listed, stressed their extraordinary
shape that was said to be different from any-
thing that had been made until then. ' Except
for the tops of Verret marble (also known
as Sarrancolin marble or marbre d'Antin),
which appears to have been a favorite of
Cressent's, this description matches the
Museum's commode. 7 Also, the crowned-C
tax marks on the mounts accord with the
date of Cressent's first sale. Imposed by a
royal edict of February 1745, this tax mark
(the C stands for cuivre, or copper, the main
ingredient of bronze) was in use until
February 1749. Any bronze above a certain
weight sold during that period had to be
struck with this stamp to show that duty
had been paid. Four commodes of this
type, with either brocatelle or Sarrancolin
marble tops, were included in Cressent's
sale of 1757. Three of them must have been
sold because only one commode of this type
was listed in the 1765 sale.9
The overall shape, the geometrical mar-
quetry (known as parquetry) executed in a
combination of amaranth and bois satiné,
and the inventive bronzes are typical of
Cressent's work, and other less easily visible
elements are characteristic of his oeuvre as
well. The construction of the carcase, for
instance, consisting of a combination of oak
and pine, is another of this master's trade-
marks, as is the use of walnut for parts of
the drawers. 10 The interior of the side cabi-
nets has been stained red to match the color
of the amaranth veneer on the inside of the
curving doors.CD This feature is repeated in
most of the commodes of this group.
Typical of commodes by Cressent, which
constituted the majority of his oeuvre, is also
the fact that he rarely used an escutcheon to
"5

Fig. 7 0 . Right side of the c o m m o d e .
frame his keyholes but incorporated them in
a much larger mount or otherwise sought to
hide them. Here the keyhole on the lower
drawer is tucked away underneath the mon-
key's left arm.CD
Little is known about the history of this
commode, which, particularly ín its orna-
ment, shows development toward an
advanced Rococo style. Bearing the trade
label of Jean Rousselot (fig. 69), this com-
mode appears to have been one of the few
pieces by Cressent that passed through the
hands of a marcband-mercier while the cabi-
116
netmaker was still alive. 11 Rousselot was
active from about 1723 until 1756, and his
establishment Au Chasteau de Vincennes,
on the rue de la Monnaie, near the rue Saint-
Honoré, was located in the center of the
Parisian luxury trade, where many antiques
dealers are still located today. 12 One of the
highlights of the New York collection of
Jack and Belle Linsky, who acquired the
commode in Paris in 1952, 13 it was lent to
the New York "Art Treasures Exhibition"
several years later and was given to the
Museum in 1982. 14 DK-G
1. For biographical information about Charles
Cressent, see Pradère 2003. Older sources are
Salverte 1962, pp. 71-74; and Honour 1969,
pp. 82-89. See also Watson 1966b, pp. 539-41.
2. Pradère 2003, pp. 26-30.
3. A number of these sale catalogue descriptions are
quoted in Ballot 1919, pp. 237-48.
4. See Metropolitan Museum of Art 1984, pp. 208-9,
no. 127 (entry by William Rieder).
5. Of the other five commodes, one is in the Musée
du Louvre, Paris, and two are Ín the Museu Calouste
Gulbenkian, Lisbon. Of the two commodes at
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England, one
is thought to date to the nineteenth century. Another
commode of this model was sold at Sotheby's, New
York, 8 November 1985, lot 356; Pradère 2003,
pp. 162-63,282-83.
6. Sale catalogue, 1749, lot 7: "Deux commodes d'un
contour extraordinaire à toutes celles qui se sont
faites jusqu'à présent, avec deux portes par les côtés,
enrichies d'ornemens de bronzes. Il y a sur le devant
deux enfans qui balancent un singe, le tout parfaite-
ment bien sizelé; doré d'or moulu, le marbre de
Verret du plus beau; elles portent quatre pieds six
pouces; les deux tiroirs sont de hauteur"; quoted in
Ballot 1919, p. 197.
7. An annotated copy of the 1749 sale catalogue indi-
cates the price was 900 livres, and on this basis
Alexandre Pradère has suggested that the pair were
sold. In view of the marble, one of them could be the
commode now in the collection of the Louvre;
Pradère 2003, pp. 162-64, 282.
8. De Bellaigue 1974, vol. 1, pp. 31-35.
9. Ballot 1919, pp. 215, 231; and Pradère 2003,
pp. 164, 342-43, no. 70.
10. Langer 1995, PP- 61-62, 65; and Pradère 2003,
p. 218.
11. Rousselot's father-in-law, Louis Bosseux, may also
have sold pieces by Cressent; Pradère 2003, p. 82.
The text of the trade label translates as follows: "[At'
his shop,] Au Chasteau de Vincennes, on the rue de
la Monaye, opposite the Porte des Balanciers de Ia
Monaye, the dealer-jeweler Rousselot sells mirror
glass [plates] of all sizes for apartments and car-
riages, mirrors, pier glasses and overmantel mirrors
of all kinds; writing tables, commodes, secretaries,
tables, coffers, tables or trays [for coffee or tea
services], dressing tables and other marquetried or
veneered work of all sorts of wood and varnishes
enriched with gilded bronze or laquered [bronze],
marble table [tops] with or without [wooden] frame
and other furnishings of carved and gilded wood;
wall lights, fire dogs, candlesticks and other work
of gilded copper . . . leaf [gold], silvered, in color or
lacquered; porcelain from China and Japan, mounted
or unmounted . . ."
12. Ibid.
13. Sold at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 27 March 1952,
lot 92.
14. ArtTreasures Exhibition 1955, no. 286.

45-
Card table
German (Bamberg?), ca. 1745-50
Carved walnut frame; pine top with marquetry
of walnut, figured walnut, boxwood, alder burl,
birch, olive wood, plum, padauk wood, yew,
green-stained poplar, and other marquetry woods;
lined with modern velvet; iron fittings
H. 29V1 in. (74.9 cm), w. 37'A in. (95.3 cm),
d. (closed) i8'/i in. (47 cm), d. (opened) 37'% in.
(95.3 cm)
Inscribed in blue on the inside of the frieze:
"v. Zandt."
The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection,
Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973
Ï974-356-Ï26
Dating to the late 1740s, this folding card
table with its serpentine lines comes from
Schloss Seehof. Situated north of Bamberg
in Franconia, this castle, also known as
Marquardsburg, was built during the late
seventeenth century as the country seat of
the prince-bishop of Bamberg, Marquard
Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg (1644-
1693).' It is believed that the Italian archi-
tect Antonio Petrini (16x4/25-1701) was
responsible for the construction of this
building with four monumental corner tow-
ers arranged around a square courtyard.
The interior decoration and the furnishing
45
of Seehof were carried out by the successive
bishops of Bamberg, to whom the estate
belonged until church properties were secu-
larized in 1802.
Johann Philipp Anton von Franckenstein
(1695-1753), prince-bishop from 1746 to
1753, did much to embellish the castle and
its park (see also the entry for no. 61). He
commissioned the painter Giuseppe Appiani
( i 7 0 i ? - i 7 8 5 / 8 6 ) to decorate the Weisser
Saal (White Hall) with mythological scenes
of such deities as Diana, goddess of the
hunt; Pomona, goddess of fruit and gardens;
and Neptune, god of the waters. These sub-
117
jects were quite appropriate for a summer
residence, where pastimes such as hunting,
gardening, and fishing were enjoyed.
Franckenstein also engaged the talented
Ferdinand Tietz (1708-1777), whom he
appointed court sculptor in 1748, to exe-
cute a large group of stone figures and
benches for the gardens. 2 It is altogether
possible that Franckenstein acquired the
Museum's card table for Seehof as well.'
Four slender cabriole legs ending in leaf-
and-paw feet support the rectangular top
with rounded forecorners, which can be
opened to form a square. Iron hinges allow
the frame to extend by concertina action
(see the entry for no. 34) and sustain the
unfolded top. Hooks on the inside of the
frame prevent the table from being folded
back once opened, and a locking mecha-
nism does exactly the opposite—it prevents
the table from extending once folded.
A carved, solid walnut frame in combi-
nation with colorful marquetry is character-
istic of furniture originating in southern
Germany. This table's carved frieze is embel-
lished on all sides with symmetrical orna-
ment consisting of a central shell flanked by
scrolling-leaf and rocaille motifs, and it also
displays incised and punched trelliswork.
Asymmetrical rocailles, shells, and S-shaped
Fig. 71. Top of the closed card table.
and C-shaped scrolls are carved on the
knees and extend down the legs. The top
shows fine marquetry decoration of sym-
metrical shells, strapwork, and scrollwork
in both its open and its closed positions
(fig. 7T). Since the table was presumably
more often than not kept folded and placed
out of the way against a wall, the marquetry
on the inside is particularly well preserved.
It still shows striking contrasts between the
various native and exotic woods, such as
the boxwood and padauk used for the inter-
laced trelliswork against a walnut ground
on two of the four sides, alternating with
trelliswork of boxwood and plum on the
other two sides. 4 This not only offered a
rich variation of tones and textures but also,
in a subtle way, identified the partnership of
the players seated at opposite ends of the
table. In addition to the natural colors of
the different timbers, poplar stained green
as a result of a natural fungal infestation,
and not through the use of dye, is found on
the closed top, enhancing its colorful appear-
ance.5 Giving definition to the leaves, husks,
and other ornaments are the engraved details
that have been filled with black paste. This
engraving is particularly evident on the
opened corners, which, oddly, would have
been largely invisible when the piece was in
use and candlesticks, providing light to the
players, were put on top. CD Since the shal-
low wells for counters are placed precisely
in the center of each side, two of them are
cut through in the middle so that the top
could be folded over.
Since he is known to have supplied a
number of card tables to Schloss Seehof in
1751 and 1758, it has been suggested that
the Bamberg court cabinetmaker Nikolaus
Bauer (1700-1771) was responsible for this
table as well;7 however, judging by the mod-
est sums Bauer was paid for his work
(between three and six gulden), they must
have been of a simple nature and are not
grounds for attributing this elaborately
embellished example to him. The combina-
tion of carved decoration and marquetry on
the piece suggests not only a south German
provenance but also that both a sculptor
and a cabinetmaker were involved in its
production. Strapwork is not uncommon in
Bamberg marquetry, and the Museum's
table may well have originated there.
A 1774 inventory taken at Seehof lists no
fewer than nineteen tables for card playing
and gaming in the main building, indicating
the popularity of this diversion at the
court. 9 Characterized as "ordinaire," most
of them must have been rather plain, per-
haps intended for the servants' use. Two of
the tables at Seehof appear to have been of
higher quality, but neither of them can be
identified with the Museum's table since the
decoration as described in the inventory was
different and since no folding mechanism is
mentioned. 10 In subsequent inventories—of
1817-18 and 1820-21—however, refer-
ences to "a folding card table with exotic
wood and green velvet" could very well per-
tain to the present example." Even more
detailed is a listing of 1829, "one card table,
the frame carved and the top partly inlaid
and partly covered with velvet," a descrip-
tion that fits the Museum's table perfectly.12
Since the card table was not listed in the
Seehof inventories of 1774 and 1802,' 3 it
probably became part of the castle's collec-
tions only after the secularization of the
ecclesiastical estates. The property was part
of the Bavarian royal domain when the
inventories of 1817-18, 1820-21, and 1829
were drawn up, and during that time it was
rented to various tenants/ 4 When the coun-
try residence with its furnishings was sold to
46.
Armchair (fauteuil à la reine)
French (Paris), ca. 1749
Attributed to Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot
(1706-1776), possibly after a design by Pierre
Contant d'Ivry (1698-1777)
Carved and gilded oak; covered in silk velvet
with gold trim
H. 43 Vi in. (no.5 cm), w. 31V2 in. (80 cm),
d. 27'A in. (69.9 cm)
Incised on the back seat rail under the slip seat:
"III." Written in ink twice on the back seat rail
under the slip seat: "99." Branded on the under-
side of the front seat rail and on the wood frame
of the slip seat: a crown between "C" and " R "
with "4865." Written in ink on a small label:
"9969."
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1906
07-225.57
On 26 August 1739 the eldest and favorite
daughter of Louis XV, Madame Louise
Elisabeth (1727-1759), was married by
proxy in the chapel of Versailles to Don
Philip (1720-1765), third son of Philip V,
king of Spain. Criticized by some as an
extravagant expense, 1 the splendid celebra-
Freiherr Friedrich von Zandt in 1842, the
table remained there, for the inscription "v.
Zandt" on the inside of the frame must refer
to him or to one of his descendants. The
card table left Seehof, together with many
other artworks, after the last male heir of
the family died in 1951. Acquired in 1956
by Emma A. Sheafer from the Munich
antiques dealer Fischer-Böhler, it was part of
the unexpected bequest this New York col-
lector left to the Museum and was included
in the exhibition of the highlights of her and
her husband's collection in 1975.' 5 D K - G
1. For the history of Seehof, see Kämpf 1955; Petzet
1993; and Feldhahn 2003.
2. Lindemann 1989, pp. 94-117, 320-26.
3. SangI 1990, pp. 105-8, 207-10, no. 20, figs. 77, 78.
4. The veneers have not been officially analyzed. I am
grateful to Marijn Manuels, Associate Conservator,
Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan
Museum, who made identifications based on the
visual characteristics of the woods as observed with
the naked eye and with the use of magnification.
5. For information about this fungus-stained wood and
its early use, see Wilmering 1999, pp. 7, 15-16.
tion of this alliance between France and
Spain included a nautical fete on the Seine
that culminated in spectacular fireworks.2
Shortly afterward Madame Infante, as the
young bride was thence known, departed
for Madrid to join her new husband. As he
was the youngest son, Don Philip's prospects
of inheriting the Spanish crown were slim,
but in 1748, by the terms of the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, which concluded the War
of the Austrian Succession, he was awarded
three duchies in northern Italy: Parma,
Piacenza, and Guastalla.
Parma's ducal palace was nothing more
than an empty shell at the time, totally
unsuitable for the new rulers. 1 Harboring
the ambition to create a court that reflected
her status, Madame Infante visited Paris
before settling in Parma. An annual sum
of 200,000 livres granted by her father
allowed her to commission and buy furnish-
ings in France. 4 When she left in 1749 after
her stay at Versailles—the first of three such
6. For an illustration of a card table in use with candle-
sticks placed at the corners, see Seelig 1995, pi. 64.
7. Kreisel 1970, p. 201, fig. 562; Hackcnbroch and
Parker 1975, no. 20; Metropolitan Museum of Art
!975» P- 2-61 (entry by James Parker}; and D. Sutton
1982, p. 266. This attribution is disputed in SangI
1990, pp. 208-10, n. 11.
8. SangI 1990, p. 208.
9. Staatsarchiv Bamberg, Rep. B24, no. 756, fols. 51,
60,85.
10. The inventory described them as follows: "1 Fürst-
licher Spiehl Tisch mit Cramoisin Sammet überzogen
und golden pordieret" and "1 fournirter Spiehl
Tisch, in dessen Mitte ein fürstl. Verzogener Rahm"
(1 princely game table covered with crimson velvet
and gold trim, and 1 veneered game table decorated
in the center with a princely coat of arms); Staats-
archiv Bamberg, Rep. B24, no. 756, fol. 85.
11. "Ein Spieltisch zum zusameniegen mit fremden holz
und grünen Sammet"; inventories of 1817-18, p. 2,
and 1820-21, no. 25. Transcripts of these invento-
ries are Ín the archives of Schloss Seehof. See also
Kisluk-Grosheide 1989, pp. 100-101, fig. 3.
12. "1 Spieltisch, der Fuss mit Bildhauer-Arbeit, und ein-
gelegter, und theilweise Samet überzogener Platte."
At that time this table was placed in the corner dress-
ing room; inventory of 1829, no. 423. A transcript of
this inventory is in the archives at Schloss Seehof.
13. A transcript of the r8o2 inventory is in the archives
at Schloss Seehof.
14. Masching 1991, p. 67.
15. Glueck 1975; and Hackenbroch and Parker 1975, n o - 2 °-
visits—she traveled home to Parma with a
convoy of thirty-four wagons loaded with
gifts and purchases of tapestries, porcelain,
bronzes, and furniture.
It has been suggested that the suite of
seat furniture to which the Museum's sump-
tuously carved armchair belonged was in
this first shipment. Two other armchairs of
the set, which contained at least four such
chairs, are extant, as is a settee.5 The chairs
and settee are thought to have been cut and
carved in France and then shipped in pieces
to be assembled and completed in Italy. In
the absence of documentation and maker's
stamps, the set has been attributed for sty-
listic reasons to Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot,
possibly executed after a design by the cele-
brated architect and designer Pierre Contant
d'Ivry.6 Member of an important family
of chairmakers active in mid-eighteenth-
century Paris, Foliot, who in 1749 was maître
menuisier (master joiner) to the Garde-
Meuble de la Couronne, the bureau charged
119
with supplying furniture to the French
court, would not have been responsible
for the profusion of high-relief carving.
Consisting of rocailles, shells, wing motifs,
floral garlands, and C-scrolls, this must
have been the work of an as yet unidentified
carver. The decoration is distributed in an
even, balanced manner on the top and front
seat rails but is highly asymmetrical on the
sides, its exaggerated Rococo ornament
masking the joints between the armrests and
the seat rails.CD
The Museum's armchair, with its pro-
nounced shoulders and inward-scrolling
feet, was gilded and upholstered in Parma. 7
The stippled decoration on the rails of the
outer back is considered to be typically
Italian. CD One of the other armchairs bears
the inscription "Petrus," which most likely
refers to Jean-Baptiste Petrus, a French
upholsterer working at the court of Louise
Elisabeth who may have been responsible
for covering the set. 9 The chairs and settee
are upholstered à châssis, with drop-in seats,
removable backs, and arm pads to which
the velvet is tacked underneath, making it
easy to change the upholstery according to
the seasons. The original crimson silk-velvet
on the Museum's chair, now very worn, and
the broad scalloping border of gold trim—
much oxidized today—may have been sent
from Paris. The settee has lost its original
show cover, but the other two chairs have a
more elaborate metal-thread embroidery
that echoes the serpentine outline of the frame
and complements the carved ornament. Both
the passementerie and the embroidery are
described in later court inventories as either
on crimson velvet or damask-covered seat
furniture.10
Both types of trim are also recorded in
various paintings. A full-length portrait of
Maria Luisa of Parma (1751-1819), the
third child of Don Philip and Madame
Infante, by the French artist Laurent Pécheux
(1729-1821), for instance, shows her stand-
ing in front of an armchair that clearly
belonged to the same set (fig. 72). Its red
velvet is embellished with elaborate gold
embroidery showing a pattern similar to
that known from the other two extant chairs.
A cushion in the lower left corner of the
canvas, however, has simpler gold passe-
menterie, not unlike that on the Museum's
chair. Because the date of the portrait is
January 1765, it has been convincingly
argued that the setting is the Palazzo Ducale
in Parma, where the duke and his family
usually spent the winter months. We know
that Pécheux was lodged there at the time,
and a contemporary description also men-
tions red and gold embroidered furniture and
hangings in Don Philip's apartment at the
palace." All this strongly indicates that the
furniture was at the ducal palace in the 1760s.
A series of inventory numbers painted or
stamped underneath the frame of the chair
tell us something about its subsequent his-
tory. The number 99, written in ink, corre-
sponds to an entry in the 1811 inventory of
the Palazzo Colorilo, one of the ducal sum-
mer residences outside Parma. 12 Branded
twice on the Museum's chair is an emblem
consisting of the number 4865 with the
letters CR (for Casa Reale, literally, royal Fig. 73. View underneath the armchair. The mark
of the royal palace at Parma is stamped on the
house) separated by a crown. Dating to the
frame of the slip seat and underneath the front
year 1855, it shows that the chair had been seat rail.
returned to the main palace by that year (see
fig. 73). 13 All the artworks and furnishings
at the court of Parma were given such to the ducal palace. This inventory was com-
marks at the order of Louise-Marie-Thérèse piled after the departure of Louise-Marie-
de Bourbon (1819-1864), the last duchess Thérèse, when the duchy of Parma had
of Parma. The number<)<)6<)written in ink become part of Italy. Thereafter, most of the
on a small label corresponds to the 1861 furnishings were transferred to the Palazzo
inventory of the Palazzo della Pilotta in Quirinale in Rome, which served as the resi-
Parma. 14 The chairs were then in storage on dence of the Italian kings, but a few were
the third floor of that building, located next sold. This chair was acquired at an unknown
Fig. 72. Laurent Pécheux,
Portrait of Maria Luisa of
Parma (1751-1819), Later
Queen of Spain, 1765. Oil on
canvas, 90% x 64 3A in. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Bequest of Annie C.
Kane, 1926 (26.260.9).
date by the French architect, ceramist, and
designer Georges Hoentschel (1855-1915),
who had assembled two outstanding collec-
tions in a building on the boulevard Flandrin
in Paris. One was devoted to medieval and
Renaissance art, the other to French decora-
tive arts of the eighteenth century. The chair
can be seen in an undated photograph of one
of Hoentschel's French decorative-arts gal-
leries (see illustration on page 2). 15 Most of
Hoentschel's holdings, including the armchair
of Madame Infante, were bought in 1906 by
the financier and art collector J. Pierpont
Morgan (1837-1913). He donated the French
decorative arts to the Museum the same
year, and a special department was created to
oversee this gift. At the initiative of Morgan,
who served as a Museum trustee and was
elected its president in 1904, a new wing
was constructed by the firm of McKim,
Mead and White to house the Hoentschel
collection.' Louise Elisabeth's armchair has
been on display almost constantly since it
arrived at the Museum. DK-G
1. The marquis d'Argenson (1694-1757), who would
serve as foreign minisrer of France from 1744 to
1747, suggested that there were one hundred better
ways to spend the money than to give opulent and
ridiculous feasts in honor of the wedding; Argenson
1857-58, vol. 2, p. 31.
Parker 1966, pp. 177-78; and Boorsch 2.000,
pp. 30-31.
"le palais de Parme manque de tout, qu'il n'y a ni
meubles, ni même d'escalier" (The palace at Parma is
destitute of everything; it doesn't have any furniture
or even a staircase); Argenson 1857-58, vol. 3, p. 25z.
Briganti 1965; and Parker 1966, pp. 178-79.
One armchair is in the State Hermitage Museum,
Saint Petersburg. Another is in a private collection in
London, purchased at Sotheby's, Monaco, 21 June
1987, lot 1100. The settee is in the Palazzo
Quirinale, Rome.
James Parker and Bill Pallot have both attributed the
chairs to Foliot. Pallot suggested Contant d'Ivry as
designer of the set. See Parker 1966, pp. 179, 182;
 Pallot 1987, pp. 132, 134-35, 142-47; and Pallot
1995. Chiara Briganti attributed the settee to Jean
Avisse; Briganti 1969, p. 45. Alvar González-Palacios
does not exclude the possibility that Jean-Baptiste
Tilliard (1685-1766) may have made the set;
González-Palacios 1995, p. 167.
7. Alvar González-Palacios suggested that it may have
been the work of a well-known gilder by the name of
Ramoneda; González-Palacios 1995, p. 167.
8. Pallot 1995, p. 64.
9. Ibid.
10. González-Palacios 1995, p. 167.
11. Parker 1966, pp. 182-84.
12. "Quatre grandes chaises d'appui gravées et dorées
avec dossier et fonds garnis en grande étoffe avec un
grand galon haut de 60 milimètres et un autre petit
d'argent haut de 40 milim" (Four large armchairs
carved [?] and gilded, the back[s] and seats uphol-
stered in a luxurious fabric, with a large galloon
[trim] sixty millimeters wide and another, small one
of silver forty millimeters wide); quoted in González-
Palacios 1995, p. 167.
13. Bertini 1982; and González-Palacios 1995, p. 166.
14. "un seggiolone a bracciuoli, pressoché uguale ai due
precedenti tranne que questo è guarnito di alto gal-
lone in oro fino festonato" (an armchair almost iden-
tical to the previous two, in that it is adorned with a
wide gold galloon [trim], finely festooned). The pre-
vious entry {9968) describes the two other extant
armchairs with their embroidered decoration. See
Bertini 1982, p. 52.
15. Hoentschel 1999, p. 179.
16. Tomkins 1989, p. 166.

47-
Armchair (fauteuil à la reine)

Southwest German, ca. 1750-60
Carved and gilded beech; covered in
century blue damask not original to the armchair
H. 43'4 in. (109.9 cm
)> w- 29'/i in. (74.9 cm),
d. 23V1 in. (59.7 cm)
Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941
41.190.74
The flowing, curvilinear silhouette of this
exuberantly carved armchair is close in
inspiration to a design attributed to the
French ornamentist and court goldsmith
Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695-1750), who
was named architect and designer to the
king in 1726. Meissonier's chair is charac-
terized by the same overall sweep of the
back and cabochon-cartouches heading the
legs, and a similar disposition of the arm-
rests. As in the Museum's example, the crest
and front rail are centered by an ornamental
carving that retains a certain symmetry,
although otherwise the Rococo ornament is
full-blown.' An engraving by Meissonier
published in Paris probably about 1735
resembles the drawing in many details and
may have contributed to the popularization
of the chair design abroad (fig. 74).
Thus, in its general form this German
fauteuil à la reine is French, but the striking
array of C-scrolls at the crest rail and the
floral decoration on the central cartouche,
as well as the expressive undulation of the
side volutes in combination with the dra-
matic convex moldings of the armrest sup-
ports and scroll legs, have transformed the
original Gallic conception into something
much more dramatic, without compromis-
ing the French elegance or comfort. 2 In
short, the composition of the frame ele-
ments has assumed a much greater impor-
tance in the German variation. 3 The gilding
on the front, much of which is presumably Franconian sculptor Ferdinand Tietz (1708-
original, catches the light, showing off the 1777) and their manufacture to a workshop
eighteenth-
refinement of the carving. As a whole, the in Würzburg, but there is no written or cir-
armchair strikes the eye as gracefully light cumstantial evidence for this. The strong
and fancifully stylish, although it is difficult French influence and the fact that one chair
to estimate how the original upholstery and was formerly in the collection of the grand
show covers might once have influenced this dukes and margraves of Baden suggest an
impression. (The blue eighteenth-century origin for the set in southwestern Germany,
damask covers and the upholstery beneath possibly at a court workshop in Mainz,
it date from a conservation project under- Bruchsal (see the entry for no. 41),
taken at the Museum in 1963 )4. Karlsruhe, the Palatinate, Württemberg, or
The chair is part of a set, of which three the Baden-Baden region itself.11 WK
other pieces are known. One was until 1995
in the collection of the grand dukes and
margraves of Baden at the castle of Baden-
Baden in Germany. 5 The other two entered
the Museum in 1974 with the Lesley and
Emma Sheafer Collection. 6 Mrs. Sheafer
had acquired the pair in 1958 from the
Munich art dealer Fischer-Böhler. By that
time, they had already been stripped of their
gilding or paint and had tapestry show cov-
ers. One of them is depicted in a painting by
Fritz Bayerlein (1872-1955) of the Green
Salon at Schloss Seehof, near Bamberg (see
the entry for no. 61), 7 and a photograph
thought to date shortly after 1900, taken in
the south wing of Seehof, shows the same
chair or its twin in situ. Nonetheless, no
archival evidence exists to prove that the
armchairs were part of the well-documented
eighteenth-century furnishings of the castle.
Most probably, they were brought to Seehof
during the nineteenth century.9
The set to which the present chair belongs Fig. 7 4 . Juste-Aurèle Meissonier, Projet d'un
may be compared with other South German trumeau de glace pour un grand cabinet fait pour
seating furniture, such as the Audience Chair le Portugal (detail), ca. 1 7 3 5 . Engraving. T h e
M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of Art, N e w York, Rogers
of the Elector of Bavaria at the Munich F u n d , 1918 (18.62.5).
Residenz, dating to about 1750.'° In 1958
Fischer-Böhler attributed the design of the
pair that Mrs. Sheafer bought to the
i. Fuhring 1999, vol. 2, pp. 360-61, no. 95.
2. For related French models, see Mannheim and Rahir
1907, no. 195; and Bremer-David 1993, p. 64, no. 91.
3. See Pons 1996, p. 217.
4. Archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
5. Catalogue of the Markgrafen von Baden collection
sale, Sotheby's, Baden-Baden, 5-21 October 1995,
vol. 1, lot 106. That chair was described in the
catalogue as nineteenth-century; however, one
month before the sale, this author personally exam-
ined it and concluded that the frame was eighteenth-
century, with some restoration and several layers
of regilding. The chair was auctioned again, at
Kunsthandel Hampel, Munich, in 2002.
6. The accession numbers of this pair of chairs are
1974.356.199 and 1974.356.200.
7. Illustrated in Feulner 1929, pi. 45.
8. Langenstein and Petzet 1985, p. 11.
9. Masching 1991, pp. 72, 80, n. 70, figs. 26-28.
10. For the Electoral armchair, see Langer 2002, p. 228,
no. 72 (entry by Brigitte Langer). For other exam-
ples, see Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, figs.
460-65; and the catalogue of a sale at Christie's,
Amsterdam, 11 December 2003, lot 214.
11. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, figs. 570, 580, 582
(these chairs have stylistically related, flowing, curvi-
linear ornament), 1058 (the movement of this clock
is marked "Frankfurt," but the vividly designed case
could have been carved in one of the court work-
shops mentioned).
12.3
48.

Armchair

English, 1751-52
Mahogany; covered in eighteenth-century
Beauvais tapestry not original to the armchair
H. 44 in. (111.7 cm), w. 32 in. (81.3 cm),
d. 28 in. (71 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.990

This armchair is part of a set of furniture

that originally consisted of two settees and
six armchairs. Three of the armchairs and
one settee (fig. 75) are also in the Museum's
collection. 1 The set is of particular interest
because of its quality and well-documented
provenance and because it appears to have
been specifically made to carry French tap-
estry covers. As such, it is a rare example of
seat furniture in a French style specially
commissioned at this date for a prominent
English Georgian house. Fig. 75. Settee, English, 1751-52. Mahogany, covered in eighteenth-century lampas not original to
Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire has the settee; 43V4 x 40V2 x 82*/2 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Arthur
been the home of the Willoughby de Eresby S. Vernay, Inc. Gift, and Gift of Arthur D. Leidesdorf, by exchange, 1971 (1971.236).
family since 1516. It incorporates architec-
ture from the early thirteenth century, the
Tudor period of the reign of Henry VIII,
and a large section, including a new north
front, added in 1724 by Sir John Vanbrugh
(1664-1726).
Peregrine, third duke of Ancaster (1714-
1788), appears to have commissioned this
set in the early 1750s as part of the exten-
sive redecoration that he undertook follow-
ing his marriage in 1750 to the heiress Mary
Panton of Newmarket. 1 The set is unusual
for English furniture of this period because
of its wide proportions and the circular
backs of the chairs, which were upholstered
with a set of Gobelins coverings entitled
Jeux d'enfants, after designs by François
Boucher (1703-1770). 3 The seats were covered
with Gobelins tapestry scenes from the fables
of La Fontaine. The settees and chairs were
Fig. 76. Armchair from
parcel-gilt on the raised areas of carving. 4
the same suite of furni-
Grimsthorpe descended through the ture photographed
dukes of Ancaster until the death of the fifth at a sale at Sotheby's,
duke in 1809, when the dukedom became London, on 1 May
1934. At that time this
extinct and the property passed to his niece, chair, which is now
Priscilla, baroness Willoughby de Eresby also in the collection
(1761-1828). The set is described in her of the Metropolitan
(ace. no. 64.101.988),
drawing room in an inventory of about
still had its original par-
1813: "Two mahogany and gilt carved cel gilding and Gobelins
Sofas, stuff'd backs and seats cover'd with tapestry cover.

124
48
Tapestry de Goblins and brass nailed. Six
Arm Chairs exactly to correspond with
Do." 5 In 1829 the set was put up for sale at
Christie's by Priscilla's eldest son and heir,
Peter Robert, twenty-first baron Willoughby
de Eresby (1782-1865), but it failed to sell
and was brought back to Grimsthorpe. The
set next appears in the 1867 inventory, but
without the two settees, suggesting that they
had by that date left the house. The six
chairs appear again in the 1901-3 inven-
tory, where the coverings are described in
detail. In 1924 the chairs were in the King
James's Drawing Room at Grimsthorpe,
seen in a photograph of that room in an
article about the house in Country Life. ' The
chairs were offered for sale at Sotheby's in
London in 1934, when they still had their
original coverings (see fig. 76), but again
they failed to sell at auction. This time
they were sold privately after the sale. The
Gobelins coverings were removed and
applied to six modern armchairs, which
were bought by Dr. F. Mannheimer of
Amsterdam and after World War II given
to the Rijksmuseum, where they remain. 7
Judge Irwin Untermyer acquired four of
the original chairs in 1949, by which time
they had been stripped of their parcel gild-
ing, and he had them upholstered with
125
their present eighteenth-century Beauvais
tapestry.
In 1928 H. Avray Tipping and Chris-
topher Hussey stated that the chairs were
"probably by Chippendale," but there is
no record of Chippendale's having worked
at Grimsthorpe, and there is no stylistic or
documentary support for the attribution. 9
Even without an attribution and in their
stripped and reupholstered state, the pieces
from this set remain an important example
of Francophile taste in mid-eighteenth-
century England. WR
r. The accession numbers of the Museum's other two
armchairs are 64.101.988,989. The other settee and
the other two armchairs are in private American col-
lections. The latter were sold most recently at the
Arthur D. Leidesdorf sale, Sotheby's, New York,
27 June 1974, lot 31.
2. None of the eighteenrh-century expense accounts for
the furnishing of Grimsthorpe survive among the
Ancaster papers, but the bank account of the third
duke at Child's Bank records a considerable project
of redecoration in 1751-52. See n. 5 below.
3. Several similar sets are known. For a discussion
of these and the Boucher paintings in the Gobelins
inventory, see Dauterman, Parker, and Standen
1964, pp. 279-81, no. 70, fig. 37.
4. Three of the chairs with their original upholstery and
gilding still intact are shown in the Sotheby's,
London, catalogue of 11 May 1934, lot 168, which
is reproduced in Rieder 1978a, p. 184, fig. 6.
5. "An Inventory of the House-Hold Furniture at
Grimsthorpe Castle . . . the Property of the Right
Honorable Lord Gwydir." The inventory is not
dated, but many of the pages are watermarked 1813.
The inventories at Grimsthorpe relating to this furni-
ture were studied and transcribed by Colin Streeter.
6. Hussey 1924, p. 653, fig. 7.
7. Rijksmuseum 1952, pp. 330-31, no. 477.
8. Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 31, figs. 143-47, pis. 116-
20; and Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977, p. 81,
no. 144 (entry by William Rieder).
9. Tipping and Hussey 1928, p. 316, fig. 472, and
p, 318. The furniture attributed to Chippendale cur-
rently at Grimsthorpe came from Normanton Park,
Rutland, in the early 1920s; C. Gilbert 1978b, vol. 1,
pp. 248-49.

49.
Standing shelf

English, 1753-54 The British passion for chinoiserie was pair of which is in the Museum's collection.2'
William Linnell (ca. 1703-1763) and John
well expressed in the bedchamber at Bad- A preparatory watercolor design for the
Linnell (1729-1796)
minton House, Gloucestershire, which was armchairs by the younger Linnell is the only
Pine and mahogany carcase; fretwork panels of
English walnut; the whole japanned black, gold, redecorated in 1753-54 for Charles Noel, drawing for the set that has been preserved.3
and red fourth duke of Beaufort (1709-1756). The No bills for the bedroom furniture exist, but
H. 59 in. (149.9 cm), w. 23 in. (58.4 cm), d. 10'A walls of this room were hung with Chinese the entire suite may have been included in
in. (26.7 cm) paper, and the London cabinetmaking firm the duke of Beaufort's large payment of 800
Pasted underneath the bottom shelf are two
of William Linnell and his son John sup- pounds sterling to the firm between 1752
round stickers on which are printed and
inscribed, respectively: "Irwin Untermyer
plied a set of furniture in the Chinese man- and 1754. 4 Because the account book of the
Collection "; and "3 2A" and "F." A third sticker ner that included four standing shelves, one duchess lists certain sums paid to the Linnells,'
is glued on the inside of the right rear leg.
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1124

"A few years ago everything was Gothic . . .

according to the present prevailing whim,
everything is Chinese, or in the Chinese
taste: or, as it is sometimes more modestly
expressed, partly after the Chinese manner,"
declared the author of an article on taste,
the March 1753 issue of the World.' Dating
back to the seventeenth century, chinoiserie,
a style consisting of fanciful designs evoking
an imaginary China, reached new heights of
popularity during the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury and flourished well past the introduc-
tion of Neoclassicism. Pattern books such as
the four-part New Designs for Chinese
Temples (1750-52) by the architects William
(d. 1755) and John Halfpenny catered to the
craze, as did numerous designs for furniture
in the Chinese taste, for example, those pub-
lished by Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779)
Fig. 77. Chinese
in his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Bedchamber at
Director (1754). Badminton H o u s e
in 1 9 0 8 .

126
49

127
it may have been the duchess rather than
the duke who dealt with the cabinetmakers,
choosing a design and commissioning this
exotic set. Whatever the case may be, the fur-
niture was at Badminton in 1754, when it
was described in situ by Dr. Richard Pococke
(1704-1765), who visited the house and
commented on the "bedchamber finished
and furnished very elegantly in the Chinese
manner." 6
The commanding feature of the room
was a striking japanned bed with a pagoda-
shaped tester, now in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London, that may well
have been inspired by the architecture of
Chinese temples or garden pavilions. 7 It
was originally hung with chintz curtains,
which had been replaced when Country
Life photographed the Badminton bedroom
in 1908 (fig. 77). The headboard consists of
pierced fretwork panels, which are repeated
on other pieces from this set, such as the
commode, the armchairs, and the two pairs
of standing shelves. Intended for the dis-
play of porcelain, the latter are smaller and
less elaborate than the designs for china
shelves on legs published in Chippendale's
Director.9 Fitted with three open compart-
ments, they have open and blind fretwork
sides, and pierced latticework balustrades
frame the top section. Little bells are sus-
pended from the upturned eaves of the
pagoda-shaped roof, which is resting on
turned spiral supports in front.
Redecorated and touched up several
times, the Museum's standing shelves are
currently japanned in black, with flat deco-
ration in gold that includes floral motifs as
well as Chinese characters, some of which
are imaginary. CD The interior is painted
red, and there is evidence that other areas
were once red as well. In fact, Linnell's
drawing suggests that red was the dominant
color for the chairs, with highlights exe-
cuted in blue and yellow. Red and two tones
of blue japanning are still present on the
headboard of the bed and were originally
found on the fretwork of the chairs and pos-
sibly also on the commode. 10 In addition,
there is yellow paint on the bed, and traces
of it are found on the Museum's shelves. 11
Deviating from Linnell's design, the original
decoration of the suite may have included
black and gold japanning, and if so, not all
of it has to be of a later date. The pagoda-
shaped tester of the bed and the roofs of the
shelves, for instance, may always have been
embellished in this manner. The drawer
fronts and top of the commode as well as
the central uprights of the chairs' open
backs may also originally have been black
and gold. Such colorful fretwork was
described as "a few laths nailed across each
other and made Black, Red, Blue, Yellow, or
any other Colour" by the architectural theo-
retician Robert Morris (ca. 1702-1754), who
sweepingly disparaged the whole "Affectation
of the (improperly called) Chinese Taste . . .
without Rules or Order" in his Architectural
Remembrancer (1751). 12
Unlike true Asian lacquer, japanning is
not very durable, and it is not surprising to
learn from the Badminton House records
that refurbishing was done in the Chinese
Bedroom during the first half of the nine-
teenth century. Harley and Langs were paid
in 1841 "for [supplying] Gold leaf Gilders
tools Brass Ornaments Lacquering Furni-
ture . . . for J. Coffey's use." The gilder, pol-
isher, and cabinetmaker John Coffey, active
at the house between 1837 and 1848, may,
therefore, have refinished the set, but if so, we
do not know how much work was involved.
Samuel Lang supplied "turned bells for Orna-
ments to furniture in the Chinese Room" in
1843.' 3 These were probably replacements
for bells missing from the standing shelves.
Although they were commissioned for
the bedchamber, the Museum's pair of
shelves, described as "Chinese ornament
stands" in the 1835 inventory, were to be
found that year in the East Breakfast Room,
later known as the Red Room, where they
still were in 1913. 14 These records show
that other rooms at Badminton were also
richly appointed with furniture in the
Chinese manner, much of which, including
the suite by Linnell, was sold by the ninth
duke of Beaufort in 1921. 1 5 Judge Irwin
Untermyer subsequently acquired the pres-
ent set of standing shelves and placed them
in the small porcelain room of his New York
apartment.' Confounding Robert Morris's
assessment of the Chinese taste, the Lin-
nells' design for "ornament stands" proved
very popular and has been repeated a num-
ber of times during the past 250 years, as
recently as the late twentieth century.17
DK-G
1. 22 March 1753, World {London}; reprinted in
Fitz-Adam 1782, p. 69. The article is signed with
the initials "H.S." The first documented English
commission for furnishings in the Chinese manner
was from Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu (1720-1800).
In 1752 William Linnell supplied various pieces of
furniture with latticework decoration for the Chinese
Room at Mrs. Montagu's London house; Hayward
and Kirkham 1980, vol. 1, p. 108, vol. 2, p. 50,
figs. 99, 100.
2. Hayward 1969a, pp. 134, 137, 139, fig. 7. The label
on the bottom of the pair to the present shelf is
inscribed, possibly, "32B." The accession number of
that shelf is 64.101.1125. The second pair of stand-
ing shelves is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port
Sunlight.
3. Hayward 1969h, pp. 18, 83, fig. 1. The drawing is
illustrated in color in Jackson-Stops 1985, p. 437.
4. Hayward and Kirkham 1980, vol. 1, p. 108.
5. Wilk 1996, p. 104 (entry by Tessa Murdoch).
6. Quoted in Hayward and Kirkham 1980, vol. 1,
p. 108.
7. See Wilk 1996, pp. 104-5 (entry by Tessa Murdoch).
8. The chintz curtains are mentioned in passing, with
no further details, in an unsigned manuscript descrip-
tion of the bedroom at Badminton of 1759, now in
an English private collection. The commode is also at
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, as is one
pair of armchairs. Another pair of armchairs is in the
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. There may have
been othet pieces in this set.
9. Chippendale 1762, pis. CXLI-CXLIII.
10. Technical analysis of one of the armchairs in the
Victoria and Albert Museum confirms that the
original red, blue, and yellow paint layers are
present under the black and gold japanned surface.
Incidently, blue and red fretwork railings can be seen
in eighteenth-century Chinese block-printed and
painted paper hangings in the Victoria and Albert
Museum (E 412-413-1924).
11. They are on the underside of the latticework that
forms part of the railings of the top section. This
paint has not yet been analyzed. It has been deter-
mined that the yellow paint on the Badminton bed is
a chrome yellow, a color not widely available in
England until the early nineteenth century and for
that reason probably not part of the original color
scheme.
12. Morris 1751, postscript.
13. Murdoch 1991, p. 9.
14. Badminton Archives, inventory of 1835 (FmN 5/1/1),
fol. 101. Described as pagodas, they were listed
as in the Red Room in the inventories of 1849
(RA i/i/ioa), fols. 22-23, and of 1913 (RA 1/1/13).
I am grateful to the archivist at Badminton House,
Mrs. Margaret Richards, for this information.
15. Catalogue of a sale at Christie's, London, 30 June
1921. The four standing shelves were apportioned
into lots 50 and 51 and were acquired by the London
dealer Frank Partridge.
16. Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 61, pi. 254, fig. 295. See
also Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977, pp. 83-84,
no. 150 (entry by William Rieder).
17. Similar shelves have passed through the art market,
some of the period, others later copies. Some are
fitted with doors, additional fretwork brackets, or
more elaborate japanned decoration. See, fot
instance, the following sale catalogues: Christie's,
London, 31 May 1978, lot 280; Christie's, London,
19 November 1981, lot 30; Christie's, London,
24 June 1982, lot 52, and again, Christie's, New
York, 19 April 1986, lot 154; Christie's, London,
13 April 1989, lot 135; Christie's, South Kensington,
London, 10-11 July 1989, lot 391; Christie's,
London, 12 November 1998, lot 235; and Sotheby's,
New York, 19-20 April 2001, lot 466.
5 o.

Armchair (fauteuil à la reine)

French (Paris), 1754-56

set of twelve chair backs, seats, and match- younger Foliot supplied many pieces to the
Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot (1706-1776)
ing armrests as well as the covers for two court. Characteristic of his furniture is the
Carved and gilded beech; covered in tapestry
made at the Beauvais Manufactory, displaying settees were woven at the same time. 5 The somewhat massive, undulating outline of
two ducks on the back and a dog stalking a duck set of wall hangings and the tapestry- the chairs in this set, enlivened by symmetri-
on the seat covered seat furniture—two settees and cally placed Rococo ornament such as the
cm
H. 41VS in. (106.4 )> w- 30*/z in. (77.5 cm),
twelve armchairs, including this one—were floral garlands, palm branches, and stylized
d. 25'/z in. (64.8 cm)
shipped to Copenhagen and installed in leaves, which are gadrooned. A prominent
Branded inside the back seat rail and inside the
slip seat: a crowned G. Incised inside the back 1756. A marble fireplace and overmantel shell motif forms the center of the back rail
seat rail, inside the slip seat, on the slip back, and mirror as well as three pier glasses and three on both the chairs and the settees (fig. 79).
on the armrests, respectively: "VII," "X," "VIII," console tables were also made in France for Supported on cabriole legs, the feet are ele-
and "I" and "VUIL" Written inside the slip seat:
this room, as were the gilt-bronze three- gantly adorned with a large flower head.CD
"VIII".
light candelabra signed by François-Thomas The set is upholstered à châssis, with remov-
Purchase, Martha Baird Rockefeller Gift, 1966
66.60.2 (frame) Germain (1726-1791) and based on able tapestry seats, armrests, and backs, dis-
Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1935 designs by Pierre Contant d'Ivry (1698- playing colorful compositions of birds and
35.i45.23C-d (arm-pad tapestries), 35.145.25b 1777). k The splendid carved and gilded animals in landscapes after designs by the
(seat tapestry), 35.145.26a (back tapestry) armchairs and settees that were arranged painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755),
against the walls of the room must have codirector of the Beauvais Manufactory
The Danish statesman of German origin formed an important element of the decora- from 1734 until his death. Yellow and
Baron Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff tion, which was described by Baron de Thiers brown symmetrical borders of scrolling
(1712-1772) remarked about King Fred- as "satisfying our ultimate conception of foliage and rocaille motifs surround these
erick V of Denmark (1723-1766) that he exquisite luxury."7 scenes that clearly reflect the outline of the
"loved France with a passion." 1 The same The frames of the seat furniture were seat furniture, creating a beautiful harmony
could be said of Bernstorff, who was a true made by the Parisian joiner Nicolas- between the woven covers and the carved
Francophile and was credited with speaking Quinibert Foliot, who stamped eight of the and gilded wooden frames.
the language better than many French peo- chairs, but not the one illustrated here, and The tapestry room remained intact until
ple. 2 During his tenure as Danish ambassa- one of the settees. Established in the rue de the beginning of the twentieth century,
dor at the court of Versailles, from 1744 Cléry, just like his father, Nicolas Foliot despite the vicissitudes of Bernstorff's house
until 1751, Bernstorff developed a marked (ca. 1675-1740), whom he succeeded as after his death. He bequeathed it to his
preference for the arts of France and lived in menuisier du Garde-Meuble du Roi, the nephew Andreas Peter Bernstorff (1735-
a beautifully furnished hôtel in the rue
Bourbon in Paris. 3 In 1752, not long after
he was recalled to Copenhagen to assume the
post of minister of foreign affairs, Bernstorff
began building a grand town house in a new
part of the city named Frederiksstaden, after
the king. Although the exterior of the house,
designed by Johann Gottfried Rosenberg
(ca. 1709-1776), betrays German influence,
the interior decoration was according to the
latest French taste.
Particularly beautiful was the tapestry
room on the main floor (fig. 78), embel-
lished with four hangings from the series
Les Amours des Dieux (The Loves of the
Gods). Woven of wool and silk at the Beau-
vais Manufactory in 1754, after designs by
the painter François Boucher (1703-1770),
these tapestries were commissioned for
Bernstorff by his friend the collector Louis-
Antoine Crozat, Baron de Thiers (1700-
1770), who acted as his representative in Fig. 7 8 . Carl Christian Andersen ¡ 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 0 6 ) , Tapestry Room at Bernstorff Palace, 1 8 8 2 . Painting.
France. 4 To complement these tapestries, a C u r r e n t location u n k n o w n .

129

Fig. 7 9 . Settee by Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, 1 7 5 4 - 5 6 . Carved and gilded beech, covered in tapestry
woven at the Beauvais M a n u f a c t o r y ; 44 x 92V2 x 32 in. T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of Art, N e w York,
Gift of J o h n D . Rockefeller Jr., 1935 (frame 3 5 . 1 4 5 . 1 ; tapestries 3 5 . 1 4 5 . 1 5 3 - d ) .
1
797Ì-> who, like his uncle, served as foreign
minister of Denmark.' The property was
sold by his son to developers. It was divided
and later reunited, and in 1829 became the
residence of Prince Frederick Ferdinand
(1792-1863) and his bride, Princess
Caroline (1793-1881), the eldest daughter
of the Danish King Frederick VI. There
were renovations to the palace, but the tap-
estry room was left unaltered and the seat
furniture was listed as in situ in the inven-
tory drawn up during that same year.10 The
widowed Princess Caroline remained in the
house until the end of her life. The next
owner of the Bernstorff palace was King
George I of the Hellenes (1845-1913), the
second son of King Christian IX of
Denmark (1818-1906), who stayed there
during visits to his country of birth. It was
during this time that the crowned-G mark
was branded into the wood of the furniture
seats, identifying the pieces as his property.CD
George I sold the seat furniture and the tap-
estries separately, early in the twentieth cen-
tury. By 1902 the American financier and
collector J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913)
had acquired the Foliot chairs and settees
from the London dealer Charles Wertheimer.11
Morgan kept the set with most of the rest of
his collection at his London town house to
avoid paying United States import duties on
artworks more than one hundred years old.
Much to their surprise, Queen Alexandra of
England (1844-1925) and her sister Dowager
Empress Marie of Russia (1847-1928),
130
both Danish princesses, recognized the seat
furniture during a visit in 1908 as having
belonged to their brother George I. 11 After
the tariff was lifted, the suite was shipped to
New York as a loan to the exhibition of
Morgan's collection held at the Museum in
1912. Morgan died the next year, and, in
1915, following the exhibition, the furni-
ture was returned to his heirs, who sold the
settees and chairs to the New York art dealer-
ship Duveen Brothers. Presumably hoping
to make a double profit, Joseph Duveen
(1869-1939) had the tapestry covers removed
from their eighteenth-century frames and
fitted on Louis XV-style chairs and settees
that were specifically made for this purpose
by Carlhian et Cie, the Parisian decorating
firm of Paul Carlhian and his brother
André.' 3 In 1919, assuming he was acquiring
antique furniture, one of Duveen's regular
clients, the philanthropist John D. Rocke-
feller Jr. ( 1874-1960) agreed to purchase,
for the staggering sum of 650,000 dollars,
what was in fact a set of twelve reproduc-
tion chairs and two reproduction settees
with the Beauvais covers from the Bern-
storff tapestry room.' 4 The seat furniture
was included in this condition in the Metro-
politan Museum's fiftieth-anniversary exhi-
bition the next year.
The original pieces of furniture received
modern upholstery, and half of the set was
sold; the other half remained with the
dealer. Only in 1948 was it discovered that
the frames of the seat furniture in the
Rockefeller collection were new, and a thor-
oughgoing effort was made to locate the
eighteenth-century frames. In 1951 six of
the original chairs and one settee were
found in the Duveen Brothers warehouse,
and the remaining half of the set turned up in
1965 at the Gothic Revival-style manor
house Lyndhurst, in Tarrytown, New York.
The last owner of this house had been Anna,
duchess of Talleyrand-Périgord (1875-1961),
the youngest daughter of the railroad mag-
nate Jay Gould (1836-1892), who was an
avid collector of French furniture. 15 Having
subsequently been acquired for the Rocke-
fellers, the entire suite of seat furniture and
tapestry covers eventually came into the
possession of the Museum.' 6 Clothed once
again in their original upholstery, the arm-
chairs and settees serve as excellent reminders
of the fact that French furniture was widely
admired during the eighteenth century and
served as elegant furnishings for residences
all over Europe.
DK-G
1. "aimait la France à la fureur"; quoted in Reau 1971,
P- 55-
vo
2. Luynes 1860-65, '- 6> P- 45 2 -
3. Rémusat 1917, pp. 398-99.
4. Two of these tapestries—Vulcan Presenting Arms for
Aeneas to Venus and Bacchus and Ariadne—are in
the Museum's collection (ace. nos. 22.16.1, 2). See
Standen 1985, vol. 2, pp. 534-35, no. 79.
5. The set of furniture consists of two settees and twelve
atmchairs with Beauvais tapestry covers. Frames:
Gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1935 (35.145.1-7);
Gift of Martha Baird Rockefeller, 1966 (66.59.1-5);
Purchase, Martha Baird Rockefeller Gift, 1966
(66.60.1-2). Tapestries: Gift of John D. Rockefeller,
Jr., 1935 (35- I 45-i5a-d-35.i45- 2 -8a-d).
6. Parker 1973, pp. 368, 371. Most of these furnishings
are still in place. Two tables and a pier glass, still in
situ, are illustrated in Pallot 1987, pp. 166-67.
7. "dans le goût de notre dernière volupté"; quoted in
Krohn 1922, vol. 1, p. 74.
8. Standen 1985, vol. 2, pp. 484-98, no. 74.
9. The history of the furniture is largely derived from
Parker 1973.
10. Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, Hofmarskallatets Arkiv
I. F. 34. An excerpt is in the archives of the Depart-
ment of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts,
Metropolitan Museum.
11. A photograph of two of the armchairs, said to be in
the collection of Charles Wertheimer, was published
in Molinier 1902a, p. 26.
12. Taylor 1957, p. 24. The seat furniture was in
Morgan's bay-windowed back parlor; see Thorn
1999. P- 34-
13. See the correspondence of 26 July 1919 between
Duveen and Carlhian referring to the making of
new chairs and a settee for the "Morgan" tapestries.
Carlhian Firm Records 1867-1975, box 386,
dossier 9. I am grateful to Charlotte Vignon, Annette
Kade Art History Fellow, 2005-2006, Metropolitan
Museum, for sharing this infotmation with me.
5°
14- An agreement was drawn up on 7 July 1919 between
John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Duveen Brothers.
Rockefeller agreed to buy a set of ten Gobelins tapes-
tries depicting ten months of the year, the Bernstorff
tapestry-covered seat furniture said to have been
in the possession of the king of Sweden, and the
portrait of Lady Dysart by Sir Thomas Lawrence
(1769-1830). The transaction was dependent upon
delivery of the Lawrence painting. Duveen Brothers
Records 1876-1981, Papers and Correspondence,
1901-81, box 504 (microfilm, reel 359). The
invoice for the tapestries and seat furniture is dated
31 May 1920. Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981,
Business Records, 1876-1964, Salesbook 2, June 1919-
May 1920, box 165 (microfilm, reel 59).
15. Peck 1998, pp. 16-17, 48.
16. Half of the eighteenth-century set has retained some
of its original gilding. The gilding on the other half
was replaced by gold paint at some point after 195 F.
See the detailed memorandum by James Parker in the
archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
131
51.
Writing table
French (Paris), ca. 1755
Bernard van Risenburgh II (ca. 1696-ca. 1767)
Oak veneered with tulipwood, kingwood,
amaranth, mahogany, ebony, mother-of-pearl,
and stained horn; the drawers of mahogany and
mahogany veneer on oak; gilt-bronze mounts;
the main writing slide lined with modern velvet
H. 30V4 in. (78.1 cm), w. 38 in. (96.5 cm),
d. 22V8 in. (57.5 cm)
Stamped beneath the back rail in the center of
the top (partly effaced): "B.V.R.B." and "JME."
Painted inside the left drawer and underneath
the top, respectively: "4762 " and "107."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976
1976.155.100
Floral marquetry, so fashionable in France
during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715),
fell out of favor during the following decades
(see the entry for no. 14). It was reintroduced
during the 1740s, with stylized rather than
naturalistic flowers, by Parisian cabinetmak-
ers such as Jean-Pierre Latz (ca. 1691-1754)
and, especially, Bernard van Risenburgh II.'
These ébénistes experimented successfully
with end-cut woods, mostly the exotic
Brazilian kingwood—violet colored and with
dark, expressive stripes—to simulate the
veining of leaves. Harmonizing with the ser-
pentine lines of Rococo furniture, the scroll-
ing flower stems and foliated branches were
usually inlaid in a reddish background of
quartered bois satiné and later of beautifully
variegated tulipwood, both also imported
from Brazil.1
132
Among the examples of floral marquetry
furniture by Van Risenburgh are several ele-
gant writing tables with a curvilinear top
supported on cabriole legs.3 Fitted with a
drawer on either end and with three pull-
out shelves for composition or for taking
dictation, these tables are veneered on top
with a scrolling cartouche enclosing floral
sprays.CD All four sides and the main writing
slide in front show similar foliated branches
within a shaped frame. Whereas for several
of these tables Van Risenburgh used only
inlays of end-cut woods, the Museum's
example is a richer and more colorful vari-
ant, including engraved mother-of-pearl and
tinted horn as well (fig. 80).4 The stems and
branches are made of ebony, and green-
stained horn was selected for the leaves. The
flowers consist of pieces of either red- or
blue-stained horn as well as of white trans-
lucent mother-of-pearl. There is evidence of
replacements and, probably in an attempt to
stop further losses and create an even sur-
face, the top was given a thick nitrocellu-
lose finish (now yellowing) before it entered
the Museum.
Only a very few pieces of furniture by Van
Risenburgh incorporate such natural mate-
rials other than wood. 5 It has been sug-
gested that he may have learned this practice
from his father, Bernard van Risenburgh I
(ca. 1660-1738), an ébéniste known for his
furniture and clock cases of brass and tor-
toiseshell in the so-called boulle technique. 6
The inventory drawn up after the latter's
death listed a box with burgau and other
types of mother-of-pearl, which strongly
suggests that he used pieces of iridescent
seashell in his work as well.7
Very typical of the younger Van Risen-
burgh's oeuvre are the high-quality gilt-
bronze mounts that adorn this table. The
moldings running down the hexagonal legs
and along the lower edge of the front and
back sides emphasize their undulating out-
line, which is repeated in the amaranth border
enclosing the floral marquetry above. The
gilt-bronze moldings meet at the center of
the front in an elaborate rocaille ornament
and at the legs with smaller scrolling leaf
motifs.CD The knees of the legs are mounted
with fine floral pendants. Not only is this
table highly unusual in its use of materials,
it also has a unique pierced gallery of gilded
bronze surrounding the top on three sides
and extending partly around the front,
showing elaborate Rococo ornament that
includes leaves and flowers. This uncom-_
mon feature suggests that it was made as a
special commission for an unknown but
important client.
The piece was later in several distin-
guished collections, crossing the Atlantic
Ocean a number of times before 1976,
when it was given by Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Wrightsman to the Museum. 8 In the early
Fig. 80. Top of the writing table.
51
1920s Henry Wakers (1848-1931), a rail-
road financier, philanthropist, and impor-
tant art collector, acquired the graceful table
from the Parisian dealer Jacques Seligmann
(1858-1923) for his New York residence at
5 East Sixty-first Street. 9 Unlike much of
Walters's collection, it did not enter the
Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore after his
death but remained in New York. It was
left, with other important pieces of French
eighteenth-century furniture, to his wife, the
former Sarah Green, whom he had married
in 1922.'° Two photographs show the table
in one of the main rooms of the Walters
home with various pieces of sculpture on
t o p . " When it was sold by Mrs. Walters at
an auction of her property in 1941, the
"B.V.R.B." stamp under the back rail was
referred to in the catalogue as the mark of
an unidentified French cabinetmaker.' 1
Later owned by two notable Brussels art
collectors, the banker Baron Jean-Germain-
Léon Cassel van Doorn (b. 1882) and his
wife, Bertha, the table was sold again, in
Paris in 1956, and illustrated in the sale cat-
alogue in color.' 3 The stamp under the back
rail was then thought to be an abbreviation
of the name of a cabinetmaker of Flemish
origin, Jacques Vleeschouwer (or Boucher,
in French).' 4 The riddle of the initials was
solved the following year by Jean-Pierre
Baroli, who identified them as belonging to
the successful Parisian ébéniste Bernard van
Risenburgh II, whose furniture is considered
to be among the finest created during the
mid-eighteenth century.' 5 DK-G
1. Chastang 2001, p. 57.
2. Pradère 1989, p. 190.
3. One is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles. It is illustrated in Bremer-David 1993,
pp. 52-53, no. 68. Another, formerly in the Paul
Dutasta collection, was sold at the Galerie Georges
Petit, Paris, 3-4 June 1926, lot 144. Later in the col-
lection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson, it was sold at
Sotheby's, New York, on 21 May 1992, lot 84.
4. Watson 1966b, pp. 306-9, no. 151; and Rieder
1994, PP- 34-3 5» P ls - C II-
5. A table with colored horn, brass, and mother-of-
pearl inlay is in the collection of the California Palace
of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. It is illus-
trated in Baroli 1957, p. 59.
6. Ibid.
7. Pradère 1989, p. 184. A number of pieces with
marquetry of tortoiseshell, brass, horn, and mother-
of-pearl are attributed to Bernard van Risenburgh I
in Ronfort and Augarde 1991.
8. During the nineteenth century it was possibly in the
collection of Lord (Thomas Henry?) Foley, and it was
later in the possession of the marquis de Juigné.
9. Randall 1970, n.p.
10. Johnston 1999, pp. 114, 172, 198, 200-201.
11. These photographs were reproduced in the catalogue
of the Mrs. Henry Walters collection sale, Parke-
Bernet Galleries, New York, 30 April—3 May 1941,
vol. 1, frontispiece, p. 126.
12. Ibid., vol. 2, lot 1420.
13. Catalogue of the Baronne Cassel van Doom collection
sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 30 May 1956, lot 122.
14. Ibid. See also Salvette 1962, pp. 30-31.
15. Baroli 1957. On the stamp "JME" that appears with
Van Risenburgh's initials on this writing table, see the
entry for no. 56.
133
5 2.
Side chair
English, ca. 1755-60
Mahogany; covered in later needlework
cm
H. 39V1 in. (100.3 )> w- 23 'n- (58-5 cm),
d. 19V1 in. (49.5 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.983
Whether Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779)
invented the "ribband-back" chair is not
known, but it is certainly the one chair
design most frequently associated with his
name. The present example, one of a pair of
side chairs in the Museum, 1 is based on a
design (fig. 81) that was included in all three
editions of his famous book, The Gentleman
and Cabinet-Maker's Director.2' The plate
illustrates three "ribband back" chairs of sim-
ilar design. In the first edition, he describes
the three chairs without modesty as "the
best I have ever seen (or perhaps have ever
been made)." 3 In the third edition, he noted
that "Several Sets have been made, which
have given entire Satisfaction." 4 Little did
he know just how many sets would be made
by other cabinetmakers, both in London
and the provinces, or that ribbonback chairs
!34
would continue to be popular throughout the
Chippendale Revival in the nineteenth cen-
tury and even into the twenty-first century.
In the 1910s and 1920s chairs in this
style were usually attributed to Chippendale
because of their correspondence to his
designs. There followed a period of revi-
sionism among furniture historians (still
ongoing) when they realized that because
these chairs were executed in such a wide
range of quality, an attribution to Chippen-
dale could be sustained only with other doc-
umentation. The present chairs have no
recorded history before the 1950s. It is only
on the basis of their construction, the type
of mahogany, and the quality of the carving
that they are dated to the years immediately
following the publication of The Director.
One of the advantages of the design was
its flexibility: parts of the ornament could
be included or deleted as the cabinetmaker
or patron wished. As Chippendale noted in
the third edition of his book: "If any of the
small Ornaments should be thought super-
fluous, they may be left out, without spoil-
Fig. 8 1 . T h o m a s C h i p p e n d a l e , Ribband
tion in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's
gray ink and gray w a s h . T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of Art, N e w York, Rogers Fund, 1 9 7 2 ( 1 9 7 2 . 5 8 1 ) .
ing the Design."' In the case of the present
chairs, the elements thought superfluous by
the chairmaker were the ornament at the
base of the splat and the entire apron.
The ribbonback design was also executed
as a settee. An example with the same design
as the present chairs is in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London. It has a two-section
back and is accompanied by four chairs.'
WR
1. For further discussion of the Museum's two chairs,
see Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 30, figs. 137, 138,
pis. n o , i n ; and Metropolitan Museum of Art
r
977» P- 87, no. 155 (entry by William Rieder}. The
accession number of the second chair is 64.101.984.
2. Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet-
Maker's Director (London: privately printed). In the
first and second editions, of 1754 and 1755, the chair
is illustrated in plate XVI. In the third edition, of
1762, the same plate was renumbered as plate XV.
3. Note to Plate XVI, p. 8, in Chippendale 1754 and
Chippendale 1755.
4. Note to Plate XV, p. 3, in Chippendale 1762.
5. Ibid.
6. Coleridge 1968, p. 191, figs. 173, 174.
/Ù/hwd' /^U*teirf
¿/M¿*
back Chairs, ca. 1 7 5 0 - 5 4 . P r e p a r a t o r y d r a w i n g for an illustra-
Director (editions of 1754, 1 7 5 5 , and 1762). Black and
52-

135
53-
Console table
German (Ansbach or Bayreuth), ca. 1755-60
Carved and gilded wood; apron and legs of oak;
double stretcher of linden wood; greenish gray
and reddish brecciated marble top
H. 36 in. (91.4 cm), w. 51'A in. (130.8 cm),
d. 23V4 in. (59.1 cm)
Marked underneath the stretcher: "BB"
The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection,
Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973
r974-356.i25
According to Heinrich Kreisel, a distin-
guished scholar of German furniture, this
table and its companion piece, today in the
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, 1
came from one of the princely castles in
Bayreuth. Kreisel based his opinion mainly
on the mark "BB" impressed underneath
the stretcher of both tables. These he inter-
preted as an abbreviation of "Brandenburg-
Bayreuth," signifying the dynasty of
margraves established in Bayreuth during
the eighteenth century. Kreisel dated the
tables to about 1755-60 1 and attributed
their design to Johann Schnegg (172.4-
1784), a Tyrolian carver working at the
court in Bayreuth in the 1750s, together
with Georg Dorsch and several other masters
and journeymen, all under the supervision
of Johann Georg Schleunig (b. ca. 1715),
who was in Bayreuth in 1741 and moved to
Berlin in 1764. Schnegg seems to have been
the most gifted of these artisans. Documen-
tation that would make it possible to untan-
gle the styles of the individual carvers at the
Bayreuth court workshop has not been dis-
covered, and neither Kreisel nor any other
scholar has yet been able to establish that
the tables did originate there. 3 There is a
similar console table in the Neues Schloss in
Bayreuth 4 and another in the Württemberg-
isches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart. The latter
could have been part of the collection of
Princess Elisabeth Sophie Friedericke von
Bayreuth, who married Duke Karl Eugen
von Württemberg (1728-1793) in 1748.
Or, the duke could have acquired the table
while living in Bayreuth as Prussian gover-
nor for several years following his banish-
ment from Montbéliard (Mömpelgard), the
Württemberg enclave in eastern France. 5
There is also a resemblance between the
large open-cartouche stretcher of the Sheafer
136
tables and one on a simplified console table
model of about 1760 at the Residenz (palace)
in Ansbach. 6 CD All three of these cartouches
are decorated with opening pomegranate
buds (Kreisel called them Krautköpfe, or
cabbage heads), although the one on the
Ansbach table is less ornate and not so
finely carved as the other two. 7 These strik-
ing floral decorations seem to be indebted to
designs by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt
the Elder (1709-1778/86), who worked until
about 1755 for Frederick the Great (1712-
1786) at Berlin and Potsdam.
The Rococo furniture style in Franconia
and in particular at the court of Frederick
the Great is characterized by utterly fantas-
tic and illogically juxtaposed floral ele-
ments. Rocaille ornament both forms and
rules the object, an eccentricity found in
French Rococo pieces only if they were
intended for export to Germany or to the
Ottoman Empire, as, for example, was fur-
niture by Jean-Pierre Latz (ca. 1691-1754) 9
and bronzes by Jacques Caffiéri (1678-
1755). Exuberantly ornamented show furni-
ture like the Museum's table and its pair in
Munich are of high importance, for they
anticipate the coming eclipse of the Rococo.
Emma and Lesley Shaefer bought the
console tables now in New York and Munich
from the Munich firm of Fischer-Böhler,
which had close ties with other south German
dealers and—what may have been Fischer-
Bòhler's most important asset—connections
with impoverished noble families. Each year
the firm was able to show the Sheafers high-
quality furniture that appealed to their taste
for the south German vernacular. It comes as
a surprise that they decided to split up this
pair. Perhaps, as the late James Parker, for
many years a curator in the Department of
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at
the Metropolitan, suggested, there was not
enough room for both in the Sheafers' New
York apartment. 10 Another influence may
have been Mrs. Sheafer's deep affection for
the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, which in
1955 was celebrating its centennial year, or
she may have thought the tables would be
reunited in Munich after her death through
an extensive bequest of objects from the col-
lection she and her husband had assembled.
In the end, however, recognizing the need of
the Metropolitan Museum in her beloved
New York to represent German art in a wide
range of media, and probably also swayed
by admiration and personal fondness for
Parker, who would be in charge of her col-
lection, Mrs. Sheafer changed her mind
and left the vast Sheafer collection to be
enjoyed by millions of visitors to the
Metropolitan Museum each year." WK
r. The table in Munich is described as follows: linden
wood with a gray yellow marble top; h. 94 cm,
w. 125 cm, d. 59 cm; marked "BB"; said to have
come ftom a Franconian castle; Jubilee Gift of
Mr. and Mrs. Lesley Green Sheafer, New York
(inv. no. 55/57). See Müller 1956, pp. 233, 236,
fig. 32; and Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, fig. 708.
2. Written statement signed by Heinrich Kreisel on
the back of a photograph of the Museum's table.
The photograph bears the stamp "Fischer-Böhler/
Antiquitäten/München 2, Residenzstr. 10/1." Georg
Himmelheber, of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
stated in a letter dated 1 March 1988 that the pair
of console tables "were bought by Fischer-Böhler
from Hermann Rotfienbücher in Bayreuth (Upper
Franconia), who had himself acquired them in Lower
Franconia. The provenance of a Bayreuth palace can
be assumed but can not yet be proved."
3. Kreisel and Himmelheber 1983, p. 230.
4. Ibid., fig. 709.
5. Müller 1956, p. 233.
6. Pfeil 1999, p. 198, no. 69.
7. Ibid., p. 199, no. 70.
8. Schreyer 1932, pi. 22, figs. 61, 62. For the Berlin
Rococo under Frederick the Great, see Eggeling
2003.
9. Hawley 1970.
10. James Parker, conversation with the author, April
1996.
11. The Museum's table is number 19 in Hackenbroch
and Parker 1975.
53

137
54-
Fire screen

English, ca. 1755-60
Panel attributed to Thomas Moore
(ca. 1700-1778)
Mahogany; knotted-pile wool panel not
original to the screen
H. 52'/. in. (133.3 cm)> w- 37I/,¿ m- (95-2
d. 26V4 in. (66.7 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1155
Fire screens, made to deflect the heat com-
ing from the hearth, had been a common
form of English furniture since the seven-
teenth century. They often had needlework
panels executed by a member of the family.
In the quality both of the carving and of the
pile knotting, this fire screen is one of the
most sophisticated to survive from the mid-
dle years of the eighteenth century. Because
of its beauty and provenance, it has often
been attributed to Thomas Chippendale
(1718-1779). It was until the mid-i930S in
the collection of the earls of Shaftesbury at
St. Giles's House in Dorset, which was refur-
nished in the 1750S by the fourth earl of
Shaftesbury, whose wife was one of the
subscribers to the first edition of Chippen-
dale's design book, The Gentleman and
cm
)> Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754). None of
Chippendale's designs for fire screens relates
closely to this example, however, and no
documentation has been found to support
his activity at St. Giles's. The fire screen was
acquired by Irwin Untermyer (1886-1973)
before 1938 and given by him to the
Metropolitan Museum in 1964.'
The wool panel, which is not original to
the frame, is one of a group of panels of
similar design, some of which may have
been woven at the Savonnerie Manufactory
in Paris, and some by workers from that
factory who emigrated to England in the
early 1750s to work first for the weaver
Peter Parisot (1697-1769) in London and
then for Thomas Moore, who made knotted-
pile carpets and screens at his manufactory
in the Moorfields section of west London. 1
In their production of these panels, both
Parisot and Moore were responding to the
growing Francophile taste in England. In
1756 Moore advertised that he sold
"Chaillot or Royal Velvet Tapestry," mean-
ing knotted-pile carpets and screens in the
Savonnerie style.3 A panel of similar design
on a mahogany fire screen at Dumfries House
in Ayrshire, Scotland, supplied by Chippen-
dale in 1759, has also been attributed to
Thomas Moore. 4 WR
1. Hackenbroch 1958a, fig. 341, pi. 299; and Metro-
politan Museum of Art 1977, P- 85, no. 152 (entty
by William Rieder).
2. This group of panels is discussed in Standen 1983;
and Standen 1985, vol. 2, pp. 740-42, no. 133.
Pierre Verlet believed that the panels of French
provenance in this group were made in imitation
of Savonnerie but not woven there; Verlet 1982b,
p. 417, n. 96. On the career of Thomas Moore,
see Hefford 1977. On both Parisot and Moore, see
Sherrill 1996, pp. 152-58, 171-85.
3. Sherrill 1996, p. 174.
4. C. Gilbert 1969, pp. 671, 674, fig. 47.

138
54

139
55-
China table

English, ca. 1755-60
Carved mahogany
H. 28V4 in. (71.8 cm), w. 37V4 in. (95.9 cm),
d. 26'/z in. (67.3 cm)
Pasted on a block underneath the top is a round
sticker on which are printed and inscribed,
respectively: "Irwin Untermyer Collection ";
and "418" and "F."
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1099
Introduced from China early in the seven-
teenth century, the exotic beverage tea was
at first appreciated in England as much for
its alleged medicinal qualities as for its taste
and mildly stimulating effect. Although
the leaves were expensive, tea drinking
gradually caught on as a social pastime and
became very fashionable during the eigh-
teenth century, when it was enjoyed in pub-
lic places and after dinner in the drawing
rooms of private homes. The custom of
brewing and taking tea required new equip-
ment, such as water kettles and their burn-
ers, teapots, porcelain bowls from which the
hot beverage was sipped, sugar and milk
containers, sugar tongs and spoons, and a
basin for slops. These implements would be
placed together on a tray or table. Tea leaves
were generally stored in a box or caddy that
could be secured with lock and key.'
The earliest tables specifically intended
for the tea ceremony were imported from
East Asia,2 but during the eighteenth century,
collection (fig. 82). The caption in the 1754
edition describes the tables as "China or
Breakfast Tables" and states that they "will
look extremely neat if [they are] well exe-
cuted." The description of the same tables
in the third edition, of 1762, explains that
they were designed to hold a set of china,
and could also be used for serving tea. With
its serpentine lines, slender cabriole legs,
scrolled feet, and gracefully curving cross
stretchers, the Museum's exquisite table is
closely related to one of these designs,4
although it shows additional, crisply carved
details on the aprons and legs and a differ-
ent floral finial at the crossing of the stretch-
ers. Also, in the manner of fine goldsmith's
work, certain details of the leaf ornament at
the knees are stippled.CD The gallery has very
fine openwork carving consisting of Gothic-
style tracery, which is unlike the Chinese fret-
work suggested in Chippendale's Director.^
The table's high quality and its resemblance
to a plate in The Director do not warrant an
attribution to Chippendale, however, since
the book had already circulated widely
among a large audience of cabinetmakers
and patrons by 1755, when it appeared in a
second edition.
Made of mahogany, a hard, reddish
brown timber imported from the West
M. • ) * •
0>Wwet Ja¿&J
Indies that became a very popular choice for
English furniture from the 1730s until the
1770S, this table shows the lustrous quality
of the beautifully figured wood at its best.
Its shining surface would have magically
doubled through reflection a costly tea serv-
ice placed on top.
Nothing is known about the early history
of the Museum's table, but in the memoirs
of the English dealer James Henry Duveen
(b. 1873) there is an amusing description of
its discovery at a country auction in Wales
that must have taken place during the early
1890S.5 According to Duveen, the table had
been stored for years in a neglected green-
house, where it had been overgrown by ivy.
Captivated by the most exquisite Chippen-
dale drawing-room table he had ever seen,
Duveen bought the little gem for seventy-
five pounds sterling and vowed never to
part with it; shortly afterward, however, he
sold the table for five hundred pounds to the
furniture dealer Sydney Letts (d. 1915), who
intended to offer it to one of his overseas
customers.
During the twentieth century the table
was acquired by three notable American
collectors of English furniture. The first was
Richard Albert Canfield (1855-1914), who
ran a famous gambling establishment in

English cabinetmakers started making spe-

cial furniture for the serving of tea, such as
urn and kettle stands, trays, and tables. The
latter are generally called silver or china
tables because the wares displayed on them
were fashioned of silver and porcelain. «^*
Many consist of tripod stands supporting a
scallop-edged round top that could be tilted
when the table was stored out of the way
and not in use. Others are oblong in shape
and have a pierced gallery, or railing, that
prevents the tea things from sliding off the
top. The celebrated cabinetmaker Thomas
A
Chippendale (1718-1779) included a plate
showing two designs for china tables of the
latter type in the first and later editions of
his influential Gentleman and Cabinet- Fig. 82. Thomas Chippendale, China Tables, ca. 1750-54. Preparatory drawing for an illustration in
Maker's Director (1754). 3 The original The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (editions of 1754, 1755, and 1762). Black ink and gray
drawing for the plate is in the Museum's wash on blue paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1920 (20.40.2(92]).

140
55
New York City and filled his home with
eighteenth-century English antiques. The
table was photographed there for publica-
tion in Eberlein and McClure's Practical Book
of Period Furniture (1914). The second was
Marsden Jaseal Perry (1850-1935), a finan-
cier and transportation magnate who bought
"the noted Chippendale collection" assembled
by Canfield.7 Perry kept the table in Bleak
House, his summer residence in Newport,
Rhode Island. Purchased in 1936 forjudge
Irwin Untermyer at the auction of Perry's
effects, it was illustrated in a 1948 article
on Untermyer's collection in the Magazine
Antiques. In 1964 the judge gave this splen-
did and unique china table to the Museum,
where it has been on display ever since.9
DK-G
For instance, in 1683, "One Tea table, carv'd and
guilt" as well as "One Japan box for sweetmeats 8c
tea" were listed among the furnishings of the private
closet of Elizabeth Dysart, duchess of Lauderdale
(ca. 1626-1698) at Ham House in Richmond upon
Thames, near London. Quoted in P. Thornton and
Tomlin 1980, pp. 83-84.
A late-seventeenth-century Javanese lacquer tea table
has been preserved at Ham House; illustrated in
Tomlin 1986, pp. 38-39.
Chippendale 1754, pi. XXXIIII.
4. Hackenbroch 1958a, pp. 52-53, pi. 218, fig. 257;
Hackenbroch 1958b, pp. 229-30, figs, n , 12; and
Merropolitan Museum of Art 1977, p. 88, no. 158
(entry by William Rieder).
5. Duveen 1957, pp. 115-19.
6. Eberlein and McClure 1914, pi. XIX.
7. So described on the title page of the catalogue of
the Marsden J. Perry collection sale, American
Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York,
3-4 April 1936. The table was lot 246.
8. "European Antiques" 1948, p. 115.
9. No other tables of this model are known to exist. A
related table displaying more carving on the apron
was formerly in the collection of Marsden J. Perry. It
was sold at the American Art Galleries, New York,
29 January 1916, lot i n . A table with similar ser-
pentine top and stretchers but with straight legs is
illustrated in Coleridge 1968, p. 195, fig. 214.
141
5 6.
Side table (commode en console)
French (Paris), ca. 1755-60
Bernard van Risenburgh II (ca. 1696-ca. 1767)
Oak and pine lacquered black and veneered
Japanese black and gold lacquer; gilt-bronze
mounts; Sarrancolin marble top
H. 35'/z in. (90.2 cm), w. 37'A in. (95.3 cm),
d. 21 in. (53.3 cm)
Stamped on top of the carcase at the right rear
corner and beneath the carcase to the left of cen-
ter at the back: "B.V.R.B." and "JME" twice,
near each "B.V.R.B." stamp. Painted underneath
the top: "176."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976
1976.155.101
This table with graceful, curvilinear lines
has cabriole legs and is fitted with one
drawer in its frieze. Its French name, com-
mode en console, indicates that it is, in fact,
a combination of a console table, designed
to stand against a wall, and a commode, or
chest of drawers.' A small number of such
tables are known today, and they appear to
have been in vogue for a short period during
the middle of the eighteenth century. 1 Five
were sold by the fashionable marchand-
mercier Lazare Duvaux (ca. 1703-1758)
between December of 1753 and February of
1757. 3 They were veneered with tulipwood
with the exception of one table, by far the
most expensive of all, which was mounted
with lacquer. In Duvaux's shop records it was
described as a lacquer commode, with con-
sole legs, decorated with gilded bronze. It
was sold for 1,150 livres on 13 May 1756. 4
Considered as part of the wall decora-
tion, most console tables were made of
carved and gilded wood and were assembled
by those joiners, known as menuisiers, who
specialized in architectural woodwork. This
side table, however, with its black-lacquered
surface and Japanese lacquer veneer, was
the work of an ébéniste.
In 1743 it had become mandatory for all
members of the furniture-makers' guild to
mark their work with their name. 5 The car-
case of this table is stamped twice with the
initials "B.V.R.B.," identifying its maker as
Bernard van Risenburgh II. This talented
and prolific artist, the son of the cabinet-
maker Bernard I (ca. 1660-1738) and the
father of Bernard III (ca. 1731-1800), who
succeeded him, was known for his luxurious
142
furniture mounted with end-cut wood, lac-
quer, or porcelain (see entry for no. 51). He
with worked almost exclusively for marchands-
merciers, dealers like Duvaux who specialized
in goods for the high end of the market. The
stamp "JME," the monogram of the Jurande
des Menuisiers-Ébénistes, a committee in
charge of maintaining standards of crafts-
manship, accompanies Van Risenburgh's ini-
tials. Visiting the furniture workshops of
guild members four times a year, the commit-
tee inspected all pieces and stamped them
with their monogram if the quality was
acceptable.7
During the eighteenth century, imported
Japanese lacquer panels, most of which had
to be dismantled from cabinets and chests
dating to the 1660s and 1670s, were rare
and very costly. In addition, the exotic
material was difficult to cut and especially
to bend in the desired serpentine shapes
required for mounting on Rococo furniture
without damaging the lacquer surface. For
that reason, only the most skilled cabinet-
makers—Van Risenburgh, for example—
were entrusted with Japanese lacquer by af-
fluent marchands-merciers such as Thomas-
Joachim Hébert (d. 1773) and Simon-Philippe
Poirier (ca. 1720-1785), who obtained it for
them at auction or abroad.
The Japanese lacquer on the table's
drawer front shows a symmetrical image of
small buildings and trees in a landscape set-
ting. Symmetrical decoration is highly
unusual in Japanese art, and upon close
inspection it turns out that not one single
piece of lacquer was used but a combina-
tion of two matched pieces with a vertical
seam, barely visible, down the middle.CD It is
likely that these panels were derived from a
pair of Japanese cabinets dating to the sec-
ond half of the seventeenth century.9 A pair
of cabinets was often decorated with an
almost identical pictorial design but in mir-
ror image. Although these pieces of furni-
ture were no longer fashionable during the
eighteenth century, the lacquer surfaces con-
tinued to be highly admired. Part of the left-
hand door from one cabinet and part of the
right-hand door from the other were proba-
bly cut up and combined on the drawer
front of this side table. The panels from
remaining doors, severely cropped, may
have been reused for the sides. The legs as
well as the areas surrounding the lacquer on
the front and sides have been lacquered black
to match, and gilt-bronze mounts cleverly
mask the joints. Composed of scrolls, rocaille
ornament, floral trails, and foliage, these
beautiful mounts have the appearance of
being cast as one piece. In fact, they consist
of separate elements that overlap, the upper
parts having been cut in such a way that
they fit over the lower ones.
This commode en console is the only
example known to exist that is mounted
with Japanese lacquer. Possibly it is the one
sold in 1756 by Duvaux, but little is known
about its early history. During the early twen-
tieth century it was in the possession of the
legendary beauty and Parisian society figure
Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay (1860-1922),
muse to Marcel Proust (1871-1922) and
wife of Comte Henry de Greffulhe ( 1 8 4 8 -
1932). The antiques dealer Paul Cailleux
lent the table to the 1955-56 exhibition
that was devoted to the most important
eighteenth-century Parisian furniture mak-
ers. 10 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman
were the last private owners, and they
donated this exquisite piece to the Museum
in 1976. DK-G
1. Watson 1966a, pp. 226-29, n o - IJ
8 ; and Rieder
1994, P- 37.pl.M-
2. The earliest example may have been the console table
with lacquer ordered in 1744 for Louis XV's bed-
chamber at Choisy. The Museum's table has been
tentatively connected with this commission. See
Pradère 1989, pp. 195-96.
3. Duvaux 1873 (1965 ed.), vol. 2, pp. 180, 279-81,
308, nos. 1590, 2461, 2480, 2714.
4. "une commode de Iacq, les pieds à consoles, garnie
en bronze doré d'or moulu"; quoted in ibid., p. 281,
no. 2480. Sold to M. Masse.
5. Pradère 1989, pp. 12-13.
6. Ibid., pp. 183-99.
7. Ibid., p. 13.
8. Wolvesperges 1998, p. 68; and Wolvesperges 2001,
PP- 3-4-
9. Impey and Kisluk-Grosheide 1994, pp. 52-53,
figs. 6, 7.
10. Grands ébénistes 1955, no. 29, pi. r i .
56

143

57-
Writing table (bureau plat)
French (Paris), 1759
Gilles Joubert (1689-1775)
Lacquered oak; gilt-bronze mounts; lined with
modern leather
H. 3 1 % in. (80.7 cm), w. 69V4 in. (175.9 cm),
d. 36 in. (91.4 cm)
Painted underneath the top: "2.131" and "202."
Locks stamped twice: "FICHET, A PARIS."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1973
I973-315-Ï
The number 2131 painted on this bureau
plat (fig. 83) corresponds to an entry in the
ledger listing new furniture for royal resi-
dences, the Journal du Garde-Meuble de la
Couronne, for 29 December 1759. On that
day the ébéniste Gilles Joubert delivered
"for use in the King's Cabinet at the Château
144
57
of Versailles: a red-lacquered writing table (corner cabinets) with elaborate gilt-bronze
equipped with gilt-bronze mounts, with mounts to match the 1738 medal cabinet by
three drawers in front that can be locked with Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus (ca. 1682-1746)
a key, the top covered with black velvet for the king's Cabinet Intérieur at Versailles.
finished with a small gold braid, [the table] Four years later, the present writing table,
measuring 5 pieds, 4 pouces long, 3 2 pouces
wide, and 30 pouces high."'
Joubert, who had been appointed a cabi-
netmaker to the Garde-Meuble in 1758 and
who in 1763, after the death of Jean-François
Oeben (1721-1763), would be named the
king's cabinetmaker, had a long and success-
ful career.1 Between 1748 and 1774 he deliv-
ered nearly four thousand pieces of furniture
to the crown, many of which he had sub-
contracted to other cabinetmakers. In 1755 Fig. 83. Inventory number painted underneath the
Joubert made two marquetry encoignures top of the writing table.
one of the very few lacquered pieces sup- complete and was finished by Jean-Henri than once at a later date, and it is likely that
plied by Joubert, 3 was commissioned for use Riesener (1734-1806) after Oeben's death. during one of these restorations the drawer
in the same room, the study where Louis XV Both this famous rolltop desk, which is locks, stamped twice "FICHET, A PARIS," were
(1710-1774) did much of his daily work. back at Versailles today, and Joubert's table installed. The locksmith Alexandre Fichet
Located on the first floor (the American sec- remained in the room under Louis XV's (1799-1862), who invented the modern
ond floor), at the corner where the Royal grandson and successor, Louis XVI (1754- safe and received several patents for safety
Courtyard meets the Marble Courtyard, the 1793), until December 1786, when a new locks, established a workshop in Paris in
Cabinet Intérieur occupied part of the for- marquetry writing table by Guillaume 8 25. 12
mer picture gallery of Louis XIV and was Benneman (active 1785-92; d. 1811), com- In 1792 Joubert's writing table was still
redecorated in 1753. With its white and missioned as companion to the king's desk, at Versailles in the Cabinet Intérieur of the
gold boiserie, or paneling, carved by Jacques replaced the Museum's red-lacquered one. 10 comte de Provence, and it was probably
Verbeckt (1704-1771), this room was one Joubert's bureau plat was passed along to among the royal property sold during the
of the most sumptuous in the king's private the king's brother, the comte de Provence Revolution." Nothing is known about its
apartment. and future King Louis XVIII (1755-1824), history in the nineteenth and twentieth cen-
The writing table, lacquered in brilliant for whom it was restored in 1787. Benne- turies, until Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrights-
red and with pseudo-Oriental landscape man and Adrien-Antoine Gosselin, who man acquired it in the mid-1960s. They
scenes in gold on the sides and the drawer was named maître, or master craftsman, in donated it to the Museum in 1973. The writ-
fronts, brought an exotic element to the 1772, charged 105 livres for their part of ing table has since been described as the
Rococo room.CD This decoration is entirely the repairs, which, unfortunately, are not "most important piece of French eighteenth-
flat, closely imitating the red Chinese lac- described in detail." In addition, a certain century furniture to be found on the North
quer that first arrived in Europe about the craftsman named Galle charged 72 livres for American continent."' 4 DK-G
middle of the eighteenth century. 4 The lus- cleaning and repolishing the mounts. There
trous varnish used is often called vernis is evidence that the table was restored more
Martin after the brothers Martin, who
developed a high-quality varnish when all
fashionable Paris began demanding lacquer
in the Chinese or Japanese style. Between
March of 1749 and February of 1758, for
instance, the Parisian dealer in fine furniture
Lazare Duvaux (ca. 1703-1758) sold a
number of commodes decorated with either
red Chinese lacquer or vernis Martin of the
same color.5
Resting on four cabriole legs, Joubert's
table is embellished with exquisite gilt-
bronze mounts that enhance its gracious,
curving lines. Some of these bold, scrolling
mounts have openwork decoration through
which the red background is visible (fig. 84).
In 1765 an inkstand of the same red lac-
quer, with silver-gilt receptacles for the ink,
sand, and sponge, was delivered for the king's
use. 7 The original black velvet inserted in
the tabletop was replaced in 1777 with blue
morocco leather. A desk chair also covered
in blue leather and listed immediately fol-
lowing the writing table in the 1779 inven-
tory of Versailles was probably used with
it. 9 At that time the room also included a
folding screen and several pieces of seat fur-
niture upholstered with crimson damask.
Made of the same fabric bordered with gold
galloon, the curtains beautifully echoed the
color scheme of the bureau plat.
A year after the table was delivered Louis
ordered a marquetry secrétaire à cylindre
from Oeben. It took almost a decade to Fig. 84. Mount on the right front corner of the writing table.

145
 i. "pour servir dans le Cabinet du Roy au Château de
Versailles: Un bureau de travail de Laque rouge garni
d'ornemens de bronze cizelé et doré d'or moulu,
ayant trois Tiroirs pardevant fermans a clef, le dessus
couvert de velours noir encastré garni d'une petite
tresse d'or, ayant 5 pieds 4 pouces de long sur 32
pouces de large et 30 pouces de haut"; Archives
Nationales, Paris, O 1 3317, f. 44. On the writing
table, see Watson 1970, pp. 42-51, no. 29e; and
Verlet 1990, pp. 49-51, no. 6. The pied is a unit
of length measuring about 12'/, inches {32.4 cm)
and consisting of 12 pouces. On this, see Havard
1887-90, vol. 4, cols. 304-5, 621.
2. Pradère 1989, pp. 209-19.
3. Wolvesperges 2000, pp. 296-97.
4. Kisluk-Grosheide 2000a, pp. 32-33, pi. V.
5. Duvaux 1873 (1965 ed.), vol. 2, pp. 15, 38, 61, 66,
157, 200, 205, 298, 305, 353, nos. 156, 389, 610,
648, 1415, 1771, 1814, 2606, 2675, 3061.
58.
Commode
English, ca. 1760
Attributed to William Vile and John Cobb (active
as partners 1751-64)
Pine veneered with mahogany; the drawer linings
of mahogany; gilt-bronze handles, leaf plates, and
escutcheons
H. 35 in. (89 cm), w. 42 in. (106.6 cm),
d. 24V4 in. (62.9 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1142
This commode was purchased in 1928 from
the collection of Earl Howe at Penn House,
Amersham, Buckinghamshire, by Irwin
Untermyer, who gave it to the Museum in
1964.' It is one of a group of commodes
that have been attributed to John Cobb
(ca. 1715-1778), both during his short-
lived partnership with William Vile
(ca. 1700/1705-1767) and following Vile's
retirement in 1764. 2 Within the group the
two commodes most closely related to this
one are an example from the collection of
146
6. Wolvesperges 2000, pp. 337-38.
7. "écritoire de même lac . . . garnye d'encrier poudrier
et cuvette à éponge d'argent doré"; Archives
Nationales, Paris, O' 3451, f. 19; Versailles inventory
of 1765.
8. Archives Nationales, Paris, O' 3476-2. The table is
described as having been recovered in 1777 Ín the
Versailles inventory of 1779.
9. Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3476-2; inventory
of 1779.
10, This writing table Ís now Ín the James A. de
Rothschild collection at Waddesdon Manor,
Buckinghamshire. It has been published in De
Bellaigue 1974, vol. 2, pp. 458-65, no. 94.
r r. A copy of the bill, dated 4 January 1787, quoted in
Verlet 1990, p. 50, reads as follows: "Pour avoir fait
restaurer à neuf un bureau en table de 5 p lA en
lacque provenant du Cabinet intérieur du Roy.
Benneman, Gosselin. Pour restauration de Pébénisterie,
Mrs. Venetia Gairdner' and another sup-
plied by Cobb to James West at Alscot Park
in Warwickshire in 1766. 4 These three com-
modes have identical gilt-bronze handles,
leaf plates, and escutcheons and a similar
curved front of bombé type. For all the
refinement of the fronts of these commodes,
the rear feet and aprons of the sides are
crudely cut—a curiously anomalous fea-
ture. The most significant variation between
this commode and the others in this group is
in the front legs, which extend forward and
then turn inward on scrolled feet.
Commodes of this type with drawers
first appeared in France in the early eigh-
teenth century. They had a strong influence
on Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779), who
acknowledged the French ancestry of his
commodes in his design book, The
Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director,
where he titled his versions "French
Commode Tables." 5 That term never caught
maroquin neuf avec bordure dorée revenue
à . . . 105 [livres]. Pour avoir degressé les bronzes
et les avoir repassés à la couleur de l'or moulu et
rebrunis à n e u f . . . 72 | livres]." (For the restoration
of a lacquered writing table measuring 5 /• pieds, for-
merly in the inner apartment of the king. Benneman
and Gosselin: For the restoration of the woodwork,
new moroccan leather with a gold border amounting
to 105 [livres]. Galle: For cleaning the bronzes, for a
new coat of gilding and [for] repolishing as new . . .
72 [livres]); Archives Nationales, Paris, O' 3645,
PP- 52.-53-
12. On Fichet, see Grand Larousse 1989, vol. 6, p. 4248.
13. Archives Nationales, Paris, O' 3355, pp. 36; quoted
in Verlet 1990, p. 50.
14. Watson 1989, p. 343.
on, and this type of furniture, both in
England and in France, has been called
"commode" since the eighteenth century.
The term is confusing to Americans who tend
to call this a "chest of drawers" and think of
"commode" as something quite different.
WR
1. The Earl Howe sale was held at Christie's, London,
on 13 June 192.8, and this chest was lot 30. It has
been published in Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 67,
fig. 322., pi. 280; Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977,
pp. 91-92, no. 165 (entry by William Rieder); and
Wood 1994, p. 53, fig. 40.
2. The commodes in this group are identified in Metro-
politan Museum of Art 1977, pp. 91-92, no. 165
(entry by William Rieder), and in Wood 1994,
pp. 51-53. On Cobb, see Beard and C. Gilbert 1986,
pp. 181-84 (entry by Geoffrey Beard).
3. Wood 1994, p. 53, fig. 39. It was sold at Lawrence
Fine Art, Crewkerne, Somerset, England, 19 Feb-
ruary 1981, lot 215.
4. Ibid., p. 51, fig. 35.
5. See plates LXIV-LXVI and LXIX in Chippendale
1762.
M7
59-
Medal cabinet

English, 1760-61
Attributed to William Vile and John Cobb (active
as partners 1751-64)
Mahogany
H. 79 in. (200.7 cm)> w- 27 m- (68.6 cm), d. 17V4
in. (43.8 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1964
64.79
"I will tell you something; the King loves
medals," Horace Walpole wrote to Sir
Horace Mann in November 1760, shortly
after George III acceded to the throne. The
present medal cabinet, with 135 shallow
drawers that could accommodate more than
six thousand coins and medals, is one of
two cabinets. Its pair is at present in the
In 1761 the medal case was probably in
the library of St. James's Palace, London, a
range of rooms on the garden side that
George III converted for this purpose in
1760. The following year he purchased
Buckingham House and began, under the
direction of Sir William Chambers (172.3-
1796), construction of the Great or West
Library to contain the newly acquired
and celebrated collection of Joseph Smith
(1673/74-1770), British consul in Venice
from 1740 to 1760, that included an accu-
mulation of books and medals, as well as
pictures, statues, and drawings. For this
new library William Vile was commissioned
to make numerous alterations to book-
were given by George IV to the British
Museum, the pair of medal cabinets appears
to have remained at Buckingham Palace.
They later went as a royal gift to the second
duke of Wellington at Stratfield Saye House
in Hampshire. The two medal cabinets were
acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum
and the Metropolitan Museum in 1963 and
1964, respectively. WR
1. Wilk 1996, pp. 112,-13 (entry by Sarah Medlam).
2. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 923-28 (entry by
Geoffrey Beard).
3. Shrub 1965.
4. Quoted in ibid., p. 28.
5. H. Roberts 1990, p. 383.

British Museum, London, on loan from the cases.' When in 1825 the books and medals
Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 85).' They
appear to have been commissioned by the
future monarch when he was still Prince of
Wales; the door of the top section is carved
with the star of the Order of the Garter, to
which he was elected in 1750.CD William
Vile (ca. 1700/1705-1767) and John Cobb
(ca. 1715-1778) were among the leading
cabinetmakers of the period, with a work-
shop in St. Martin's Lane, then the center of
the cabinetmaking district of London. 1
Both cabinets, each resting on a four-leg
stand, may have been the flanking sections
of a larger piece of furniture, called His
Majesty's Grand Medal Case. A conjectural
reconstruction suggests that this may have
been of tripartite, breakfront form, the cen-
tral part of which has not survived, with
shelves for books connecting the three
parts. 3 The bill for the original medal case
has not been found, but a series of entries
in the royal accounts of October 1761
describes in detail the alterations made to it
by William Vile, the most extensive of
which was the filling in of the space between
the legs of the end cabinets with drawers
and adding "carved doors and Ends and a
New plinth to D?on a frame." 4 Apparently
at this time the end sections were also
detached from the large cabinet, with the
outer side of one part removed and attached
as the corresponding side to the other part, Fig. 85. Medal cabinet attributed to William Vile Fig. 86. Carved lion on the left forecorner of the
and John Cobb, 1760-61. Mahogany, 79 x 27 x top section of the medal cabinet.
leaving one cabinet (Metropolitan Museum)
17V4 in. Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
with two carved sides and one cabinet (Vic- Bequeathed by Mr. Claude Rotch, London ( w . n -
toria and Albert Museum) with plain sides. 1963). On loan to the British Museum.

148
59

149
6o.

Mechanical table

French, ca. 1761-63

Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763)
Oak veneered with mahogany, kingwood, and
tulipwood, with marquetry of mahogany, rose-
wood, holly, and various other woods; gilt-bronze
mounts; imitation Japanese lacquer; replaced silk
H. 27'A in. (69.8 cm), w. 32% in. (81.9 cm),
d. i83/s in. (46.7 cm)
Stamped under the back rail on the top:
"J F OEBEN." Stamped under the left rail on
the top: "R.V.LJC.j"and "JME."
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982
1982.60.61

This table has long been recognized as one

of the masterpieces of Jean-François Oeben,
cabinetmaker to Louis XV (1710-1774).' It
was made for Oeben's most important
client, the king's mistress Madame de Pom-
padour (1721-1764). The main charge of
her coat of arms, a tower, appears at the top
of the gilt-bronze mount at each corner.CD
On the vase at the center of the marquetry
top is the ducal coronet (Madame de
Pompadour was given the title "duchesse-
marquise de Pompadour" in 1752). The
top, a tour de force of Rococo design, shows
allegorical trophies of her chief interests—
architecture, music, painting, gardening,
and, last but not least, love—within a scrol- Fig. 87. General view of the mechanical table with the drawer opened and the panel lifted. The covers of
the right and left compartments of the drawer are raised.
ling foliate border, executed with dazzling
skill in marquetry of etched, stained, and
natural mahogany, rosewood, holly, and
other woods (fig. 88). Combining an extra-
ordinary design with marquetry of great
sophistication, the top is one of the finest
panels in all of Oeben's furniture.
Oeben's skills are also apparent in the
elaborate mechanism that allows the top to
slide back as the large drawer below moves
forward. With the drawer open, the table
could be used for either reading or writing
(fig. 87). A central arched panel, hinged at
the front, rises by means of a hidden ratchet
support and contains a rectangular panel,
which can be rotated and fixed in position
so that either side faces forward. One side
of this panel is lined with blue moiré silk;
the other contains a panel of imitation
Japanese lacquer. Flanking this are two
flaps, which are inlaid with large tulips over-
lapping ribbon-bound borders and which
cover two shaped compartments veneered Fig. 88. Top of the mechanical table.

150
with tulipwood.CD A concealed button releases
a shallow drawer below the reading-and-
writing panel. One of the most unusual fea-
tures of this table is the treatment of the legs,
each of which is pierced with three openings
framed with a gilt-bronze rim. This detail is
unique in Oeben's work.
Madame de Pompadour ordered a num-
ber of pieces of furniture from Oeben in
1761, but it is not clear that this table was
among them. This group was left unfinished
on Oeben's death in 1763 and completed
by his brother-in-law, Roger Vandercruse
(called Lacroix; 1728-1799), whose stamp
(R.V.L.C) along with Oeben's and also
"JME," the monogram of the guild, are
found on the underside of this table. It can-
not be identified in the inventory prepared
after Oeben's death, either in the list of ten
items awaiting delivery to Madame de
Pompadour or in his large stock of com-
pleted and partly completed furniture,
mainly because of the brevity of the entries. 1
Madame de Pompadour died in April 1764,
and the inventory of her possessions pre-
sents the same problem.' Whether she ever
took possession of this table has not been
determined.
Oeben made a number of similar tables
with sliding tops and drawers, sometimes
151
fitted as combination writing and toilette
tables. The related tables by Oeben are in
the Musée du Louvre, Paris; the J. Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles; the Huntington Art
Gallery, San Marino, California; the National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C ; the Rijks-
museum, Amsterdam; the Residenzmuseum,
Munich; the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London; the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle,
Durham; and the Museu Calouste Gulben-
kian, Lisbon.
For such a well-known piece of furni-
ture, this table has a surprisingly vague his-
tory until the early twentieth century. It may
have belonged to Madame de Pompadour's
6l.
Settee
German, ca. 1763-64
Carved, painted, and gilded linden wood;
cotton-velvet squab cushion
H. 43 in. (109.2 cm), w. 54'/i in. (138.4 cm),
d. 25'/4 in. (64.1 cm)
Painted on the outer back: "56B."
The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection,
Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973
r974-356.i20
Fig. 89. Design, attributed to Franz A n t o n Ermeltraut,
for the wall elevation and ceiling of the Audience
C h a m b e r (garden r o o m ) in the Franckenstein Pavilion,
1 7 6 1 . G o u a c h e over pencil o n a gesso g r o u n d .
M a r t i n von Wagner M u s e u m , Universität W ü r z b u r g
(inv. n o . 5 5 5 / 1 2 6 , 20).
152
brother and principal heir, the marquis de
Marigny, although there is no evidence to
support this idea. 4 In the catalogue of the
1928 sale of Judge Elbert H. Gary's collec-
tion, 5 a series of previous owners of the table
was listed (the marquess of Tullibardine;
Mrs. Mary Gavin Baillie-Hamilton; and
Lady Harvey, London, from whom it was
acquired by the Paris dealers Lewis and
Simmons), but in none of these collections
has it been documented. In the twentieth
century it was sold twice at public auction,
both times fetching record prices for a piece
of French furniture: at the Gary sale it was
acquired by the dealer Joseph Duveen
Part of a larger set, this remarkable corner
modern settee and its pair, also in the Museum, were
commissioned by one of the most powerful
figures in eighteenth-century Franconia,
Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim (1708-
1779). Prince-bishop of Würzburg and, after
1757, also of Bamberg, Seinsheim divided
Fig. 9 0 . U n d a t e d p h o t o g r a p h of the Z a n d t family dining r o o m at Schloss Seehof. Bayerisches
L a n d e s a m t für Denkmalpflege, M u n i c h .
(1869-1939), and at the sale of the Martha
Baird Rockefeller collection in 1971, it was
acquired by Jack and Belle Linsky. WR
1. For a more detailed discussion of this table and a
partial bibliography, see Metropolitan Museum of
Art 1984, pp. 210-12, no. 128 (entry by William
Rieder). See also Rieder 1997.
2. Guiffrey 1899.
3. Cordey 1939.
4. Freyberger 1969, pp. 12-13.
5. Judge Elbert H. Gary sale, American Art Association,
New York, 21 April 1928, lot 271.
6. Martha Baird Rockefeller sale, Sotheby's, New York,
23 October 1971, lot 711.
his time between two official residences in
those cities and his three summer castles,
Veitschöchheim, Werneck, and Seehof.'
Preferring the country to the city, Seinsheim
spent about three months a year outside
Bamberg, at Seehof, where he enjoyed walk-
ing and hunting. He was fond of gardens and
6-L
did much to embellish the late-seventeenth-
century castle and especially its park, where
he ordered that a maze, a theater, and a cas-
cade with grotto and trelliswork arcades be
constructed.
In 1761 he also resumed work on one of
the ancillary buildings at Seehof, the F r a n k -
enstein Schlösschen. This garden pavilion at
the east end of the orangery and green-
houses had been conceived as a place where
the prince could retreat from the strict eti-
quette at his court. Built by the architect
Johann Jakob Michael Küchel (1703-1769)
for one of Seinsheim's predecessors, Johann
Philipp Anton von Franckenstein, prince-
bishop from 1746 to 1753, the Schlcjsschen
had been left unfinished at the time of
Franckenstein's death (see the entry for
no. 45). Contemporary records indicate that
Seinsheim decided to have its two main
rooms, the Saal and the Audience Chamber
(also called the Arbor Room, or berceau),
embellished with frescoes and stuccowork.
All four walls of the Audience Chamber
were to be decorated as an illusionary arbor
with trelliswork and floral festoons. Franz
Anton Ermeltraut, court painter at Würz-
burg, was commissioned to execute a small
trompe l'oeil ceiling fresco. It is not known
when this was finished because the work
was delayed by occasional disputes between
the patron and the painter and the latter's
frequent illnesses. 1 No description of the
room's interior was made when the F r a n k -
enstein Pavilion was demolished in the nine-
teenth century, but a drawing thought to be
Ermeltraut's design for the Arbor Room has
been preserved, illustrating its intended
decoration (fig. 89).' Also, an inventory of
1774 at Schloss Seehof mentions a "Grünes
Perceau-zimmer," or Green Trelliswork
Room, in the garden pavilion, showing that
the room had been completed by then as
planned. 4
Among the furnishings listed were the
two settees, together with a pair of match-
ing armchairs and four side chairs that are
also in the Museum's collection.5 CD In addi-
tion, there were four wall brackets hanging
in niches, two of which have been preserved
as well. CD These furnishings were described
as "von bildhauer Arbeith grün Lassirt," or
carved and glazed green.
Both the settees and the matching chairs
have serpentine gilded frames consisting of
large scrolls of various shapes and open-
work aprons decorated with polychrome
flowers and foliage. They are supported on
slightly curved legs carved with a pattern of
reeds, and rest on bun feet that are partly
153
covered by foliage. Most unusual is the off-
white studded latticework intertwined with
gilded and painted foliage on the inner
backs of the seats; this must have been in
total harmony with the original setting of
the furniture. The outer backs of the settees
and armchairs were left unfinished, as they
were intended to stand against the wall; the
side chairs, however, have latticework carv-
ing on both sides and were meant to be seen
in the round.CD Corresponding to the inven-
tory description of 1774, traces of a green
glaze, originally applied over the gilding, are
still present on the furniture. 7 Subsequent
inventories offer additional details about
the pieces, mentioning their green silk-velvet
seat cushions and their placement. Being
rather top-heavy and unsteady, the settees
stood in two corners of the room and the
armchairs are described as being fastened in
the other two. Grooves in the outer backs of
the settees seem to imply that they too were
once secured to the walls of the room.
It is, unfortunately, not known who was
the maker of this unique garden-room furni-
ture so expressive of the exuberant Rococo
taste. Its sculptural silhouette and elabo-
rate carving, the choice of linden wood, and
the unusual construction and simple joinery
all make it seem likely that a sculptor or
master carver rather than a cabinetmaker
was responsible for the set.9 It has been sug-
gested that Margravine Sophie Caroline von
Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (173 7-1817),
of neighboring Bayreuth, presented the suite
to Seinsheim.' 0 This would explain the
absence of bills in Seehof's archival records.
The margravine is known to have visited
Seinsheim regularly, and pieces of furniture
were occasionally exchanged between them.
Also in favor of a Bayreuth provenance is
the florid style of the pieces: Rococo furni-
ture of Bayreuth was characterized by unre-
stricted use of naturalistic motifs, such as
flowers, foliage, reeds, and birds. There was
also a preference in Bayreuth for naturalism
in interiors. Several rooms in the more
recent of Bayreuth's two castles, the Neues
Schloss, were decorated before 1760 in imi-
!54
tation of latticework pavilions, the first
examples of their kind in Germany." A
complete set of furniture would have been
an unusually large gift, however. Since the
Museum's suite was in such perfect har-
mony with its original setting, and given
Seinsheim's attention to the smallest details
of Seehof's embellishments, it seems more
likely that the prince-bishop ordered it him-
self. With the exception of a corner settee in
the Würzburg Residenz, no other pieces
known today bear even the slightest resem-
blance to the Seehof set.' 1 For this reason,
and in the absence of contemporary docu-
ments, it is impossible to attribute the furni-
ture to a specific artist.
The settees, chairs, and wall brackets
presumably remained in the Franckenstein
Pavilion until it was pulled down, between
1867 and 1870, and were then transferred
to the castle itself. Seehof, which was in the
possession of the bishopric and then part of
the Bavarian royal domain until 1842, had
become the private property of Freiherr
Friedrich von Zandt and his descendants.
Photographs taken at the turn of the cen-
tury and later show the furniture in the
Zandt family dining room (fig. 90)."' They
indicate that large carved flowers, now
missing, originally adorned the cresting of
the frames. The castle survived World War
II intact, but the interior furnishings were
sold off after the death in 19 51 of the last
male heir of the Zandt family.'4 In 1956 the
Munich antiques dealer Fischer-Böhler sold
this exceptional seat furniture to the New
York collector Emma A. Sheafer. At that
time the chairs and settees were upholstered
in eighteenth-century painted Chinese silk,
and only the trelliswork carving on the
outer backs of the side chairs was left
uncovered. Mrs. Sheafer never knew the full
splendor of the furniture that filled the dining
room of her New York City apartment. It was
with their painted silk show covers that the
furniture came to the Museum as part of her
bequest in 1973 (see illustration on page 5,
above). Once the fabric had been taken off,
a conservation campaign was undertaken.
This included the reconstruction of the
foliage around the inner edge of the frames,
which had been cut away to accommodate
the upholstery; the removal of later paint
layers on the trelliswork; and the manufac-
ture of seat cushions covered in velvet to
match the originals.' 5 DK-G
1. Much of the information in this entry is taken from
Kisluk-Grosheide 1990. See also SangI 1990,
pp. 215-21.
2. Masching 1996, pp. 19-20, A9, p. 23, A16.
3. Roda 1990, pp. 161-68, fig. 3.
4. Staatsarchiv Bamberg, Rep. B24, no. 756, fol. 139.
5. The accession numbers of the pair to the present
settee, of the armchairs, and of the four side chairs
are, respectively, 1974.356.121; 1974.356.118, 119;
and 1974.356.114-117.
6. Accession numbers 1974.356.123,124. They were
originally fitted on top with vase-shaped carvings,
which are now in the collection of the Bayerische
Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und
Seen, Munich. The other two brackets and their tops
were most likely used to construct a late-nineteenth-
century center table to match the seat furniture.
This table, which is also in the Museum's collection
(ace. no. r974.356.122), is on long-term loan to
Schloss Seehof.
7. Copper was used for this glaze, which would have
been applied in a variety of transparent-to-opaque
green tones that would allow the gilding to partially
shine through. See Gill, Souitanian, and Wilmering
1990, pp. 171-72.
8. See the inventories of 1802, room 57B, and 1817-18,
p. 37, no. 2A, transcripts of which are kept in the
archives at Schloss Seehof.
9. Linden wood was more often used for sculpture than
for furniture during this period. Unusual also is the
way that the chairs were constructed. Normally the
back supports would have formed one piece with
the back legs. Here they were made like stools, with
the backs attached separately. See Gil!, Souitanian,
and Wilmering 1990, p. 169.
10. This was suggested by the Munich dealer Fischer-
Böhler (see below).
11. Kisluk-Grosheide 1990, pp. 156-57, fig. 23.
12. Heinrich Kreisel attributed the Würzburg settee to
Johann Köhler, an otherwise unknown sculptor, who
was paid for "sculptural work [and/or] carving exe-
cuted in the newly furnished chamber in the princely
residence"; Kreisel 1930, pp. 29-30. He ascribed
the Seehof set to Köhler, as well; Kreisel 1956,
pp. 20-21, 34, n. 28, 38-39, fig. 23.
13. Kisluk-Grosheide 1990, p. 152, figs. 15, 16; and
Masching 1991, pp. 67-68, 92, figs. 17, 18.
14. Freiherr Franz Joseph von Zandt died in 1951. His
widow remarried the following year, and the Zandt-
Hessberg'sche Verwaltung assumed management of
the castle; Masching 1991, pp. 68, 77, n. 13.
15. For a description of this conservation work, see Gill,
Souitanian, and Wilmering 1990.
62.
Commode
English, 1764
Pierre Langlois (active 1759-81)
Pine and oak veneered with marquetry of satin-
wood, kingwood, and other woods on a
mahogany ground; gilt-bronze mounts
H. 34 in. (86.5 cm), w. 59V4 in. (151.8 cm),
d. 27-'/s in. (69 cm)
Fletcher Fund 1959
59-127
Pierre Langlois was one of the leading cabi-
netmakers in London in the 1760s and
1770S. He produced a wide range of furni-
ture in the French manner, specializing in
commodes in the Louis XV and Louis XVI
styles decorated with floral marquetry and
gilt-bronze mounts. His early marquetry
was closely related to that of the Parisian
ébéniste Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763),
in whose workshop he may have trained.
He shared his London premises with his
son-in-law, the bronze caster and bronze
gilder Dominique Jean, who probably made
the elaborate mounts for his furniture.'
This commode is one of his few docu-
mented works. It was supplied to the sixth
earl of Coventry on 20 July 1764 for Croóme
Court, Worcestershire, together with a bill
that describes its function: "To the very hon-
orable nobleman the count of Coventry. For
a large commode for placing clothes, inlaid
with flowers of wood native to India and
embellished with gilt bronze at a price of
fifty-five pounds." 1 The wording of the bill
and the interior of the commode, which is
fitted with sliding tray-shelves, indicate that
it was a clothespress intended for a bedroom
or dressing r o o m / 0 This is the only known
piece of furniture by Langlois that has come
down to us with his trade card pasted to the
back; it describes in both English and French
the range of his products.' In the marquetry
trophy of musical instruments on the top
(fig. 91) and the bold foliated corner mounts,
this commode is closely related to one
supplied to the fourth duke of Bedford in
1759, now at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire.4
Langlois repeated on a number of commodes
the marquetry bunch of flowers seen here on
each front door, tied at the lower outside cor-
ner of the panel and spreading into the space
along a diagonal axis.'
155

Fig. 9 1 . T o p of the c o m m o d e .
At some point in the nineteenth century
the commode was moved to the Tapestry
Room at Croóme Court, where it appears in
an early-twentieth-century photograph. 6 It
remained at Croóme until 1948, when it was
63.
Desk (bonheur-du-jour)
French (Paris), 1768
Attributed to Martin Carlin (ca. 1730-1785)
Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth,
stained sycamore; the small drawers of solid
mahogany; mounted with soft-paste
porcelain plaques; gilt-bronze mounts;
with modern velvet
H. 32'/i in. (82.6 cm), w. 25VS in. (65.7 cm),
d. 16 in. (40.6 cm)
Twelve plaques bear the date letter for 1768 and
the painter's mark of Denis Levé (active
1805); five others have unidentified
marks. Underneath the carcase is pasted a round
label on which are printed and inscribed,
tively: "Hillingdon Heirlooms" and "103."
affixed underneath the carcase is a round label
with a blue border on which is inscribed:
Vernon House Aug. 31st 1921."
Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation,
58.75.48
The beautiful Marie Jeanne Becu (1743-
1
793)> w n o is better known by her married
name, Comtesse Du Barry, was introduced
to Louis XV (1710-1774) in 1768. After
becoming the king's official mistress shortly
156
sold by the countess of Coventry at Sotheby's
in London. 7 In 1959 it was acquired by the
Museum through Frank Partridge and Sons,
London, from Bryan Jenks. WR
thereafter, Madame Du Barry began to
acquire paintings and furnishings for her
and
apartment at Versailles and later also for her
Sèvres
pavilion at Louveciennes. The dealer in luxury
lined furnishings Simon-Philippe Poirier (ca. 1720-
1785), who was the principal purchaser of
plaques from the Sèvres porcelain manufac-
tory until his partner Dominique Daguerre
1754-
(d. 1796) succeeded him in 1777, provided
painter's her with a variety of porcelain-mounted fur-
niture, which he himself may have helped to
respec- design. On 18 November 1768 Poirier
Also
delivered the first of these costly pieces to
"From
Madame Du Barry at Versailles. It was a low
writing desk with a raised section at the back,
1958 a so-called bonheur-du-jour, for which he
charged 1,440 livres.' Eleven such bonheurs-
du-jour are known; four of them are at the
Metropolitan Museum. 1 Seven are signed by
the cabinetmaker Martin Carlin, and the
others have been attributed to him. 3 Born in
Freiburg-im-Breisgau, now in southwest
Germany, Carlin was established in Paris by
1. See P. Thornton and Rieder 1971-72; and Beard
and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 526-27 (entry by William
Rieder). On Dominique Jean, see "Langlois and
Dominique" 1968.
2. "Aux tres Honnorable Mon Segner Le Conte De
Conventry. Pour une Grand Commode Pour Mettre
Des Abit inscrutée de fleur du bois Natturelle des
hinde et ornée de bronze Dorée du prix de L5 5-0-0."
The full text of the bill is quoted in Beard and
C. Gilbert 1986, p. 527 (entry by William Rieder).
3. When the commode was purchased by the Museum
in 1959, only a fragment of the card remained on
the back. Langlois's trade card is illustrated and
its full text quoted, in both English and French, in
P. Thornton and Rieder 1971-72, pp. 283-84. The
trade card states that he could supply commodes,
secretaries, clock cases, corner cabinets (encoignures),
and other types of furniture decorated with floral
marquetry and gilt-bronze mounts. He also advertised
"all sorts of fine cabinets"—by which he probably
meant carcase furniture generally, as opposed to seat
furniture.
4. Ibid., p. 105, fig. 1.
5. Several commodes with similar decoration are
illustrated and discussed in ibid., pp. 176, 179-81.
6. Dauterman, Parkei; and Standen 1964, p. 33, fig. 9.
7. Sotheby's, London, 25 June 1948, lot 170.
8. Bryan Jenks, Astbury House, Erdington, Shropshire.
J
759-> when he married Marie-Catherine
Oeben, the sister of the cabinetmaker, or
ébéniste, Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763).
Carlin became a maître ébéniste in 1766 and
specialized in the production of small, pre-
cious pieces of furniture, working mostly for
Poirier and later also for Daguerre, who pro-
vided him with designs, porcelain plaques, lac-
quer panels, and gilded bronzes for mounting.4
Supported on four slender cabriole legs,
this bonheur-du-jour is fitted with a single
drawer in the frieze, containing on the right
a small compartment to hold the inkwell,
sponge trough, and a box for sand, now
missing. On the left a large part of the drawer
has a hinged writing surface, covered with
modern green velvet, which could be lifted
up to store writing implements underneath.CD
On the back are one rectangular and two
shaped panels framed by gilt-bronze mold-
ings, within which are designs in marquetry
of foliated and berried branches (fig. 92).
The front, sides, and top—both of the table
63

157

Fig. 9 2 . Back of the desk.
and of the raised section with three small
drawers—are mounted with Sèvres plaques
painted with floral decoration within a green
border. Twelve carry the Sèvres date letter for
the year 1768 and the mark of the flower
painter Denis Levé. The remaining five have
been ascribed to Jean-Jacques Pierre the
younger (b. 1745/46),5 another of the factory's
flower painters, but this attribution remains
questionable. Carlin's other bonheurs-du-jour
are very similar to this one, varying only in
minor details. 7 The plaques mounted on
each of the eleven examples range in date
between 1765 and 1774, making it relatively
easy to establish the sequence in which they
were produced.
Given the date on the Sèvres plaques, it
has been suggested that the Museum's writ-
ing desk was the one supplied to the king's
favorite mistress at Versailles in 1768; 8 how-
ever, a bonheur-du-jour by Carlin now at
Boughton House, Northamptonshire, has
158
several plaques with the same date letter.*
Since the early history of these pieces is not
known, either one could conceivably have
belonged to Madame Du Barry. She kept the
writing desk in her Cabinet, a small room in
her apartment at Versailles, located in the
private quarters of the king, which she occu-
pied until May 1774.'° It is not known what
happened to it after Louis XV's death, when
part of Madame Du Barry's property was
transported to Louveciennes.
Charles Mills (1792-1872), a London
banker with a considerable art collection
and a penchant for Sèvres porcelain and
Sèvres-mounted furniture, purchased the
Museum's bonheur-du-jour during the nine-
teenth century." Together with other Sèvres-
mounted pieces, this example was at one
point in the possession of Mills's descen-
dants, the Lords Hillingdon, at Vernon
House, London, from where it was removed
in 1921 and later sold to the well-known art
dealers Duveen Brothers. In 1947 a number
of artworks from the Hillingdon collection,
including seventeen pieces of Sèvres-mounted
furniture, were bought from Duveen Brothers
by the cultural foundation that had been
established by the American businessman
and philanthropist Samuel H. Kress (1863-
1955). Under the leadership of Samuel's
brother Rush H. Kress (1877-1963), the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation gave these
extraordinary pieces of furniture to the Mu-
seum in 1958. DK-G
1. The desk was described in the bill Poirier supplied to
Madame Du Barry as "Une table à gradins en porce-
laine de France, fond vert et cartouches à fleurs, très
richement ornée de bronzes dorés d'or moulu, le
dessus du tiroir couvert d'un velours vert et les pièces
d'écritoires dorées . . . 1,440 fr. [livres]"; quoted in
Vatel 1883, vol. 1, p. 152.. See also Baulez 1992,
p. 45. At a time when the laboring poor in France
earned between roo and 300 livres per year and a
skilled worker between 300 and 1,000 livres, the sum
of 1,440 livres that Madame Du Barry paid for this
small, elegant desk would have been thought very
high by most of Louis XV's subjects. On this and for
additional information on standards of living, see
Sargentson 1996, p. xi.
Bonheur-du-jour translates literally as "happiness
of the day," and though the origins of the name are
not clear, scholars have suggested that it may allude
to the joy of letter writing; see Dautennan, Parker,
and Standen 1964, p. 134, no. 22.
2. Two are in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, the pres-
ent one and another one {ace. no. 58.75.49), and
two are in the Jack and Belle Linsky Collection
(ace. nos. 1982.60.54, 55). See Dauterman, Parker,
and Standen 1964, pp. 134-38, nos. 22, 23; and
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1984, pp. 217-22,
nos. 133, 134 (entries by William Rieder).
3. Pradère 1989, p. 356.
4. Ibid., pp. 343-44-
5. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, p. 135,
no. 22.
6. Jean-Jacques Pierre the younger's mark, a scrolling P
(generally recorded as P 7 or P ), is different from the
mark on the plaques of this writing desk. The painter
Philippe Parpette (i736-?i8o8) is also thought to
have marked his work with a scrolling P; Savill 1988,
vol. 3, pp. 1055, 1059.
7. There are differences in the gilt-bronze mounts, in
the choice of the woods used for the small drawers
and for the marquetry panels on the back, as well as
in the choice of the veneers used for the underside of
the writing flaps. A number of these differences are
listed in De Bellaigue 1974, vol. 2, p. 480.
8. Wildenstein 1962, pp. 368-69; De Bellaigue 1974,
vol. 2, p. 482; Pradère 1989, p. 356; and Baulez
1992, p-45-
9. Hughes 1992, pp. 125-26, pi. 76.
10. See Le Roi 1859, pp. 15-16.
11. See Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964,
pp. 116-19.
64,65.
Settee and armchair
the earls of Coventry, is among the best doc-
English, the frames 1769
umented of all English Neoclassical furni-
John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince
(d. 1804) ture.' It was executed by the leading
Gilded fruitwood; covered in contemporary wool- London cabinetmakers, John Mayhew and
and-silk tapestry made at the Gobelins William Ince,2 who in 1769 billed the owner
Manufactory, Paris
of Croóme, George William, the sixth earl
Settee: h. 44 in. (111.8 cm), w. 75 in. (190.5 cm),
(1721-1809), for "6 Large Antique Elbow
d. 32V1 in. (82.6 cm); armchair: h. 42VS in.
(108.3 cm), w. 28V1 in. (72.4 cm), d. 26V2 in. Chairs, with oval Backs, Carv'd with Double
(67.3 cm) husks & ribbon, knot on top, Gilt in the
Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958 Best Burnish'd Gold, Stuff'd with Besthair,
58.75.21,16 in Linen, Backt with Fine Crimson Tammy,
proper for Covering with Tapistry in the
The Museum's set of six armchairs and two Country, the patterns included. 2 Settees for
settees from the Tapestry Room at Croóme Each Side the Chimney, richly Carv'd &
Court, Worcestershire, formerly the seat of Gilt, Stuff'd & Cover'd to match the chairs.
10 Setts of Castors, with Screws, & fixing to
the Chairs & Sofas." 1 The floral cartoons
for the furniture covers were executed from
1760 to 1767 at the Gobelins Manufactory in
Paris by Maurice Jacques (1712-1784) and
the decorative artist Louis Tessier (1719/20-
1781).
In England this was the first instance in
which seat covers were designed en suite
with a set of tapestry hangings, which were
intended to be used rather like wallpaper,
covering the walls from chair rail to cornice.
The tapestries had a series of trompe l'oeil
medallions with scenes designed by François
Boucher (1703-1770) representing alle-
159
gories of the elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and
Water. The tapestries were finally installed
in June 1771 by Mayhew and Ince: "Three
Men's time at Croóme putting up the
Tapestry." This was the first of several sets
of this group of tapestries, called the
Tentures de Boucher, woven at the Gobelins
for English houses, of which the best known
are the ones made for Osterley Park, Middle-
sex; Newby Hall, North Yorkshire; Weston
Park, Shropshire; and Moor Park, Hert-
fordshire (now at Aske, North Yorkshire).
Between 1902 and 1904 the ninth earl of
Coventry sold the tapestries and tapestry-
covered furniture and re-covered the walls
with green damask. Subsequently the origi-
nal seat covers were acquired by a dealer in
Paris, who removed and applied them to a
set of modern frames in the Louis XV style.
The Tapestry Room from Croóme Court
was given to the Metropolitan Museum by
the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1958,
together with the modern set of frames (see
fig. 93). In the following year the original
frames were discovered in a warehouse in
Paris. They were purchased by the Kress
Foundation and shipped to the Museum,
where they were refitted with their original
tapestry covers. WR

1. The accession numbers of the entire set are

58.75.15-22.
2. Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, pp. 589-98 (entry by
Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator).
3. Quoted in Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964,
pp. 35-38, no. 2a-h, figs. 11-14. The entry by James
Parker contains further quotations of the bills and a
bibliography. The best account of this furniture and
of the Tapestry Room as a whole, by James Parker
and Edith Standen, is found in this volume. See also
Rieder 1996.

Fig. 9 3 . T h e Tapestry R o o m from C r o ó m e C o u r t ,

Worcestershire, 1 7 7 1 , at T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n
M u s e u m of Art. T h e p h o t o g r a p h shows a settee
and t w o chairs from the suite by J o h n M a y h e w
and William Ince. T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of
Art, N e w York, Gift of Samuel H . Kress
F o u n d a t i o n , 1958 (58.75.1).

160
 66

66.
Commode

English, ca. 1770

Attributed to John Mayhew (1736-1811) and
William Ince (d. 1804)
Pine veneered on the front and sides with
marquetry of satinwood, kingwood, holly, rose-
wood, and other woods; the drawer linings of
oak; gilt-bronze mounts; marble top
H. 38 in. (96.5 cm), w. 54 in. (137 cm), d. 28 in.
(71 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101.1145

Large, boxlike commodes with a single mar-

quetry panel on the front are rare in English
furniture of the late eighteenth century.
Access to the interior of this one can be
gained only from the sides, each of which
opens to reveal four mahogany drawers (see Fig. 94. Three-quarters view of the commode with the right door opened.

161
fig. 94).' This, of course, means that it could
only have been placed in front of a pier or in
some other position with no furniture
nearby. It has all of the aspects of a virtuoso
piece. The marquetry of the large front
panel is of spectacular quality and unusual
design, featuring a Corinthian column on a
shaped pedestal with rams' heads terminat-
ing with feet at the corners, and an eagle
flanked by pendant husks and smoking clas-
sical vases.CD It has been suggested that the
front and side panels are by a Continental
artist (one decorative-arts expert, who owned
the piece in the 1920s, attributed them to
Michelangelo Pergolesi),1 but in many aspects
of its marquetry, this commode is similar to
others attributed to Mayhew and Ince, and
there is no particular reason to think that
the marquetry is not English. A pair of com-
67.
Jewel coffer on stand (coffre à bijoux)
French (Paris), 1770
Attributed to Martin Carlin (ca. 1730-1785)
Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, stained
sycamore, holly, and ebonized holly; mounted
with soft-paste Sèvres porcelain plaques; gilt-
bronze mounts; lined with modern velvet
H. 37V1 in. (95.3 cm), w. 2 1 % in. (55.3 cm),
d. 14'A in. (36.8 cm)
One porcelain plaque bears the date letter for
1768, seven the date letter for 1770 and the
painter's mark of Jean-Jacques Pierre the younger
(b. 1745/46), and one the date letter for 1775
and the painter's mark of Michel-Gabriel
Commelin (1746-1802). Underneath the stand
is pasted a round label on which are printed
and inscribed, respectively: "Hillingdon
Heirlooms" and "129." Also affixed underneath
the stand is a round label with a blue border
on which is inscribed "From Vernon House
Aug. 31st 1921."
Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958
58.75.41
This rectangular coffer on stand is one of
three closely related pieces in the Museum's
collection.' Formerly part of the Hillingdon
collection, and gift to the Museum of the
Samuel H. Kress Foundation (see the entry
for no. 63), it is fitted with thirteen porce-
lain plaques of different shapes that are
mounted on three sides and on the hinged
top. Most of these plaques are decorated
with floral ornament within a narrow green
162
modes in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
displays lions' heads and draped swags closely
related to the same elements on the side
panels of the present commode and may
well have been made by the same shop. 3
Documented furniture by Mayhew and Ince
shows a sufficient variety in the style of
marquetry to suggest that they may have
used panels from independent marqueteurs.
The two corner mounts—each showing
a ram's head above elongated legs—are a
particularly significant element on this com-
mode. The only other known example
occurs on a set of two corner cupboards and
two commodes at Burghley House in
Lincolnshire, which were provided by
Mayhew and Ince to the ninth earl of Exeter
in 1767. 4 Much of the furniture at Burghley
is described in a Mayhew and Ince bill of
border. Fine gilt-bronze moldings with a
stylized leaf pattern—the so-called feuilles
d'eau motif—hold the porcelain in place
and emphasize both the rectilinear form of
the casket and the flowing lines of the ele-
gant cabriole-legged stand, which encloses a
drawer with a velvet-covered writing panel
and a gilt-metal inkwell as well as recepta-
cles for a sponge and sand.CD The shaped
and undulating plaque on the center front
of the coffer is painted with a trophy con-
sisting of various love symbols and framed
by a remarkably realistic gilt-bronze imita-
tion of a fringe that lends it the appearance
of a lambrequin.CD The curving leg-mounts
include bearded satyr masks at the top,
which protrude slightly from underneath
the canted corners of the stand. Interlaced
trelliswork marquetry of tulipwood on a
stained sycamore ground with tiny dots of
the same wood placed at the crossings deco-
rates the back of both the casket and the
stand (fig. 95).
In contemporary descriptions these pieces
are referred to as coffres or coffres-forts.z For
example, in his L'art du menuisier (1769-75)
André-Jacob Roubo (1739-1791) remarks
that since toilette boxes without inside
fittings were generally used for the storage of
jewelry they were known as coffers, adding
1767-68 and recorded in a daybook of
1770-79.' It is only the mounts that make
the comparison meaningful, however, for
the Burghley commodes and corner cup-
boards were fitted with reused seventeenth-
century marquetry. The commode stood
prominently in the hall of Irwin Untermyer's
New York apartment (see illustration on
page 4, below). WR
1. A complete bibliography and exhibition history for
this piece are given in Metropolitan Museum of Art
1977, pp. 96-97, no. 175 (entry by William Rieder).
2. Mulliner 1924, fig. 52. Pergolesi was active in the
second half of the eighteenth century.
3. Their accession numbers are 1976-129-1,2.
4. Hayward and Till 1973, pp. 1605-6, figs. 3-5.
5. The bills and daybook are housed in the Burghley
archives (EX 90151 and Estate Books, 1700-1800).
See Beard and C. Gilbert 1986, p. 594 (entry by
Hugh Roberts and Charles Cator).
that they could be executed in a very sump-
tuous manner. 3 The presence of the drawer
fitted with a writing surface and of the com-
partment for writing paraphernalia, how-
ever, shows that this luxury piece doubled as
a small desk.
Dated between 1770 and 1775, nine
nearly identical coffers on stand that are
either stamped by or attributed to Martin
Carlin are known. 4 Between 1766 and 1785
this successful German cabinetmaker work-
ing in Paris made more than seventy gener-
ally light and elegant pieces of furniture
mounted with Sèvres porcelain.' These were
intended for a fashionable and distinguished
clientele, consisting mostly, but not exclu-
sively, of aristocratic ladies.
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) received
a jewel casket on stand by Carlin in 1770,
the year of her marriage to the future Louis
XVI (1754-1793), and it may well have
been the prototype for the other eight exam-
ples. That coffer is marked with the double
V of Versailles surmounted by the crowned
monogram "GR" for G(reniers) des R(écol-
lets), a monastery near the château where
the office in charge of the furnishings in
Marie Antoinette's residences was located.
The plaques are likely to be the ones bought
from the Sèvres Manufactory during the
first half of 1770 by the marchand-mercier
Simon-Philippe Poirier (ca. 1720-1785). 7
Later that same year, on 13 December,
Poirier, who had a virtual monopoly on the
purchase of Sèvres plaques, delivered "a
coffer of French porcelain on a green
ground with floral cartouches, very richly
embellished with gilt bronze [mounts], and
its stand" to Madame Du Barry (1743-1793),
mistress of Louis XV Poirier charged 1,800
livres for this coffer on stand, to which he
added six livres for shipment to Versailles.
Given the fact that seven of the Sèvres plaques
on the present example have the date letter
R, for 1770, painted on their backs, it has
been suggested that this, the earliest of the
Museum's coffers, may have been the one
that was commissioned by Madame Du
163

Fig. 95. Back of the jewel coffer on stand.
Barry. The plaque mounted at left on the
drawer front, dated 1775 a n d painted by
Michel-Gabriel Commelin, who specialized
in floral borders, 9 is likely to be a replace-
ment for an earlier, damaged one. Since the
casket on stand is not listed in any of
Madame Du Barry's inventories it is possible
that she ordered the porcelain-mounted piece
as an exquisite present for someone else.
A very similar coffer on stand is the sub-
ject of a pen-and-wash drawing in the
Museum's collection (fig. 96), one of a series
of drawings depicting French furnishings.
They were intended for two passionate col-
lectors, Duke Albert von Sachsen Teschen
(1738-1822) and his wife, Archduchess
164
Maria-Christine (1742-1798), a sister of
Marie Antoinette, who were joint governors
of the Austrian Netherlands (today Belgium)
from 1780 to 1792. The drawings may
either have been a record of furniture in the
couple's collection or have served as a cata-
logue from which they could order fashion-
able furnishings for the Neoclassical residence
built for them in Laeken, near Brussels, now
the Belgian royal palace. 10 DK-G
1. Two are part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection (ace.
nos. 58.75.41, 42); Dauterman, Parker, and Standen
1964, pp. 126-34, n o s - 20, 21. The third is part of
the Wrightsman Collection (ace. no. 1976.155.109);
Watson 1966a, pp. 140-45, no. 90.
2. Four eighteenth-century descriptions are listed in
Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, pp. 129-30.
3. "Il y a de ces dernières [boîtes de toilette] dont l'in-
térieur est vuide, c'est-à-dire, sans garniture; ces
petites Boîtes ne servent, pour l'ordinaire, qu'à serrer
les bijoux, & alors elles prennent le nom de Coffre.
On en fait de très-riches, tant pour la qualité du bois
que pour la garniture ou serrure extérieure." Roubo
1769-75, Pt- 3> P- 980.
4. The model of the coffer and of the stand is the same
for all nine, but there is variation in the decoration
of the porcelain plaques, the gilt-bronze moldings,
and the marquetry on the back. One coffer is fitted
with seven storage trays inside; Detroit Institute of
Arts 1996, pp. 55-60, no. 8 (entry by Theodore Dell).
Another coffer has a different stand signed by the
cabinetmaker Gaspard Schneider; catalogue of the
Di Portanova collection sale, Christie's, New York,
20 October 2000, pp. 218-19.
5. Pradère 1989, pp. 344, 356, 35 8 "59-
6. This coffer is now back at Versailles; Baulez 1997.
7. Pradère 1989, p. 360; Roberto Polo collection sale
catalogue, Ader-Tajan, Paris, 7 November 1991,
lot 153.
8. "un coffre de porcelaine de France fond verd à car-
touche de fleurs et très richement orné de bronzes
dorés d'or moulu ainsi que son pied"; Wildenstein
1962, p. 375.
9. Savill 1988, vol. 3, p. 1024.
10. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, pp. 128, 130,
fig. 99; Myers 1991, pp. xxi, 195-96, no. 116.
68.
Side chair

English, ca. 1772

Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779)
Mahogany; covered in modern morocco leather
H. 38V4 in. (97.2 cm), w. 22 in. (55.9 cm),
d. 22'/i in. (57.2 cm)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and The
Annenberg Foundation Gifts, Gift of Irwin
Untermyer and Fletcher Fund, by exchange, Bruce
Dayton Gift, and funds from various donors,
1996
1996.426.6

About 1772 Thomas Chippendale executed

a set of Neoclassical mahogany dining
chairs for Goldsborough Hall in North
Yorkshire, a large Jacobean country house
that belonged to Daniel Lascelles, younger
brother of Chippendale's most extravagant
patron, Edwin Lascelles (1712-1795), of
nearby Harewood House. The set, to which
this chair belongs, and which originally
included fifteen chairs, remained at Golds-
borough until 1929, when it was removed to
Harewood House, from where it was sold
by the seventh earl of Harewood in 1976.'
With their tall backs with arched top-
rails and molded sides headed by beaded
medallions, or paterae, and leaf finials; their
fan-shaped splats with a central patera
encircled and flanked by pendant bellflower
swags; and their square, tapering paneled
legs with pendant husks, the chairs repre-
sent one of Chippendale's most elegant
designs. He produced five sets of these
chairs, with minor variations, for three
houses in Yorkshire (Harewood House,
Goldsborough Hall, and Newby Hall), one
in Hertfordshire (Brocket Hall), and one
house in London (Lansdowne House). 2
Because the Lansdowne House set has
not survived, the present set of fourteen
chairs was acquired by the Metropolitan
Museum in 1996 for a period room, the
Dining Room from Lansdowne House, as
the closest approximation of what was orig-
inally there. On 20 January 1769 Chippen-
dale billed the Lansdowne set to Lord naild L51-9-0 [fifty-one pounds, nine shil- 1. C. Gilbert 1978b, vol. 1, p. 258. The set was sold
from Harewood at Christie's, London, 1 April 1976,
Shelburne, the owner of the house, describ- lings]." 3 The Metropolitan's chairs have been
lot 41. It was acquired by the Museum at Christie's,
ing it as a set of "14 Mahogany Chairs with newly upholstered with red morocco leather. London, 4 July 1996, lot 340. The accession num-
Antique backs and term feet very richly WR bers of the entire set are 1996.426.1-14.
Carvd with hollow seats stuffd and coverd 2. Ibid., pp. 195-220, 253-54, 258, 264, 266.

with Red Morocco Leather & double Brass 3. Ibid., pp. 253,255.

165
6y.

Athénienne

French, ca. 1773 Fig. 9 7 . Engraved advertisement

After a design by Jean-Henri Eberts by J e a n - H e n r i Eberts in
Carved and gilded pine; brass and gilt-bronze liner L'avantcoureur, September 1 7 7 3 .
H. 37% in. (94.6 cm), diam. of top i8'A in. Print R o o m , Library, University
(47 cm) of Warsaw.
Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in honor of
James Parker, 1993
1993-355-1

The athénienne was a completely new,

multifunctional type of French Neoclassical
furniture derived from the tripod-shaped
perfume burner of classical antiquity. It
could be used as a washstand, perfume
burner, food warmer, and jardinière. It was
invented, probably in 1773, by Jean-Henri
Eberts, editor of Le Monument du Costume
(a series of etchings on the history of French
costume in the eighteenth century), and
was first advertised in L'avantcoureur in
September 1773. Only a single engraving of
the advertisement, now in the Library of the
University of Warsaw, appears to have sur-
vived (fig. 97). Eberts stated in his advertise-
ment that the athénienne could be examined
and acquired at the shop of the gilder and
color-merchant Jean-Félix Watin, the author
of a popular handbook on gilding, L'art du
peintre, doreur, vernisseur. In Eberts's engrav-
ing the athénienne is shown as a perfume
Watson suggests that all of the surviving
burner, whereas the present example, which
athéniennes may have been made by the
is one of a pair in the Museum's collection, is
same unidentified cabinetmaker. Whether
designed for use as a jardinière.'
this is the obscure A. P. Dupain who
Several examples of the athénienne have stamped one of the surviving pairs is not
survived. 1 One of the earliest may have been known.' He may just have specialized in
supplied to Madame Du Barry (1743-1793) their production. WR
at Louveciennes in 1774. 3 But the present
pair is closest in design to Eberts's engrav-
ing. Eberts owned a painting by Joseph- 1. The accession number of the second example is
I993-355-2.
Marie Vien (1716-1809), La Vertueuse
2. Eriksen and Watson 1963, p. i n .
Athénienne, which includes a tripod that
3. "Une atheniene de bois sculpté et doré, avec garni-
was once thought to be the source of ture et réchaux à esprit de vin en cuivre bronzé en
Eberts's design, but because the correspon- dehors et argenté dedans" (An athénienne of carved
and gilt wood with a fitting for warming spirits of
dence is not close, that idea was subse- wine made of bronzed copper on the outside and sil-
quently played down by French furniture vered within); quoted in Vatel 1883, vol. 2, p. 488.

expert Sir Francis Watson: "Nevertheless, 4. Watson 1966a, p. 104, no. 7 1 A 3 .

since Eberts owned the painting there may 5. Watson i960, p. 151, fig. 226. Dupain is recorded
as a maître menuisier, or master furniture carver, in
well have been some link between the two 1772.
in his mind." 4

166
I6>
yo.
Table
Italian (Rome), ca. 1775-80 military campaign along the Nile in 1798 The painted finish simulates the beautiful
Wood, carved, painted, and partly gilded; black (see the entry for no. 92).' greenish red of Aswan granite. It is high-
granite top not original to the table
Winckelmann's patron Alessandro Albani lighted with flecks of gilding that harmonize
H. 35I/S in. (89.9 cm), w. 48% in. (123.5 cm)>
d. 23 in. (58.4 cm)
was one of the first connoisseurs in early- with the gilded hieroglyphs and the sphinx
Gift of Robert Lehman, 1941 eighteenth-century Rome to consider in a heads that crown the legs, which terminate
41.188 scholarly manner the nature and significance in human feet, also gilt. The hieroglyphs
of Egyptian art. At his villa in Rome he built and cartouches, some of which are similar
a salon decorated in the Egyptian style, to those used by Piranesi in his chimney-
Arriving from Dresden in Rome in 1755,
which he filled with ancient Egyptian and piece designs, are identifiable, but their
the historian of classical art Johann Joachim
Roman works, creating what was "probably arrangement on the table's aprons and legs
Winckelmann (1717-1768) stepped into a
the first such historical reconstruction in does not convey a logical message. These
different, intensely stimulating world. The
modern times." 4 A few years later, the anti- bold details are pulled from their context on
sophisticated international community set-
quarian, architect, and engraver Giovanni ancient monuments and arranged in a merely
tled there was experiencing a rapidly grow-
Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) made designs decorative manner.
ing fascination with the ancient Mediter-
(never executed) for chimneypieces in the Who commissioned this striking piece is
ranean civilizations. As librarian to the col-
Egyptian taste. These extraordinary etchings not known. The closest connection that can
lector Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-
contained a wealth of Egyptian ornament be made is with a table depicted in Laurent
1779), Winckelmann spent nine productive
arranged in an imaginative, purely decora- Pécheux's attractive 1777 portrait of Mar-
years in the intense study of Etruscan,
tive manner. They became "the ultimate gherita Gentili Boccapaduli standing in the
Greek, classical Roman, and Egyptian
anthology of Egyptian motifs for the room devoted to her natural-history collec-
works. He found them "in the galleries,
remainder of the century." 5 Meanwhile, the tion and other curiosities. 7 The tabletop in
vaults, and gardens of Roman palaces, at
archaeologists were continuing to unearth the portrait (fig. 98) incorporates a mosaic
Naples, and at the new excavations of
Egyptian works in Rome. Soon European of various marbles and other stones,
Herculaneum."' During ancient Roman
"Neo-classical designers [were drawing] on arranged in a way that is typical of sou-
times, Egyptian monuments, such as
Egypt in much the same way that Rococo venirs of a grand tour. It can be assumed
obelisks and statues, and precious materials,
designers had drawn on China."' that the Museum's table once had a very
such as alabaster, that formerly decorated
the palaces of the pharaohs and temples on The design of this table reflects the Neo- similar top. Such highly decorative displays
the banks of the Nile (for example, two Egyptian fashion in Rome in the late 1770s. of stones, many of which are semiprecious,
panels on the Farnese table; see no. 7) were
brought as spoils to Rome and were used to
embellish public places and the imperial res-
idences. The constant presence of Egyptian
art in Italy occasionally inspired artisans of
later eras to incorporate its mysterious dec-
orative motifs into their own inventions.
Sometimes it was the mere citation of a detail,
such as a sphinx's paw used to support a
Renaissance cassone or cabinet/ And because
there was no understanding of pharaonic
traditions and no knowledge of the land of
Egypt or of its ancient writing, European
artisans and scholars were unable to distin-
guish pharaonic originals from imperial
Roman copies or interpretations. On a large
scale, the frescoes by Raphael and his studio
for the Sala dell'Incendio in the Vatican and
the Sala Egiziana in the Palazzo Massimo
alle Colonne are two of a few grand Italian
interior decorations with Egyptianizing Fig. 98. Laurent Pécheux, Portrait
details that predate the Egyptomania that of the marchesa Margherita
Gentili Boccapaduli, 1777. Oil on
seized Europe in the wake of Napoleon's
canvas, 42 Vi x 31 Vi in. Private
collection.

168
70
later became collector's items in their own
right. This may be why the original top of
the Museum's table was removed and
replaced with one of black granite. There is
a related table in a New York private collec-
tion, and another was recently recorded on
the New York art market.
This intriguing object was among the
first gifts that Robert Lehman made to the
Metropolitan Museum, which became one
of his great interests. In 1975 he bequeathed
his collection to the Museum, together with
the gift of a new wing to house it. WK
1. Eitner 1970, vol. 1, p. 13. See also Winckelmann
1880.
2. Der Glanz der Farnese 1995, p. 55, fig. 5.
3. A passion for the Egyptian style before Napoleon's
era was not limited to Italy. Johann M. Dinglinger's
Apis Altar of 1731 in the Green Vault at Dresden
is a rich compendium of ancient Egyptian motifs,
surmounted by an obelisk; see Syndram 1999,
pp. 60-61. Queen Marie Antoinette adored the style
(see the entry for nos. 86-88). And, recognizing the
innate appeal of Egyptian objects, David Roentgen,
marketing genius sans pared among European cabi-
netmakers, placed a sphinx, symbol of royal power
and feminine wisdom, on either side of the writing
surface of a desk that he designed in 1783 with
Catherine the Great of Russia specifically in mind;
see Fabian 1996, p. 100, no. 213.
4. Pantazzi 1994, p. 39.
5. Humbert, Pantazzi, and Ziegler 1994, p. 69, no. 16
(entry by Michael Pantazzi) and for Piranesi's
chimneypiece designs, see pp. 69-74, n o s - 16-21
(entries by Michael Pantazzi).
6. Fleming and Honour ^ 8 9 , p. 275. For chinoiserie,
see Gruber 1996.
7. González-Palacios 1991, pp. 141-42, no. 60,
pi. XXIV (entry by Alvar González-Palacios). See
also Morley 1999, pp. 292-93, and fig. 603 (the
present table).
8. For the first, see Humbert, Pantazzi, and Ziegler
z
994i PP- 76-77, no. 23 (entry by Michael Pantazzi).
The Museum's table is number 42 in that exhibition
catalogue (it was shown only at the Paris venue). For
the second, see catalogue of a sale at Christie's, New
York, 24 September 1998, p. 149, lot 295.
169
71-
Secretary on stand (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)
French (Paris), ca. 1776
Attributed to Martin Carlin (ca. 1730-1785)
Oak veneered with tulipwood, amaranth, holly,
and sycamore; mounted with soft-paste Sèvres
porcelain plaques and plaques of painted tin; gilt-
bronze mounts; white marble shelves; lined with
moiré silk
cm
H. 43'A in. (110.5 cm), w. 40V1 in. (102.9 )>
d. i27/g in. (32.7 cm)
The central porcelain plaque bears the date letter
for 1776 and the mark of Edme-François
Bouillat the elder (1739I40-1810). Pasted on
the back is a label inscribed "29617 els 5016," a
red-bordered octagonal label inscribed "9," a red-
bordered oval label inscribed "F36," and a red-
bordered octagonal label inscribed "1192" and
"53." Marked on the back: "MN2603," "1017,"
and "M.6501" (partly illegible). Painted under-
neath the stand: "217."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1976
1976.155.110
In 1795 Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna
(1759-1828) wrote a detailed description
of her private rooms at Pavlovsk, near Saint
Petersburg, the palace that was built for her
and her husband, Grand Duke Paul (1754-
1801), by the English Neoclassical architect
Charles Cameron (1745-1812). According
to the account, her boudoir, leading off the
bedchamber, was rectangular and had a
vaulted ceiling painted with arabesques.
The fireplace, on one of the short walls, was
placed opposite the window from where she
had a view of the garden and the park.
Among the furnishings Maria Feodorovna
listed were porphyry-topped tables, carved
and gilded seat furniture from Paris, a desk
by the cabinetmaker David Roentgen (1743-
1807), as well as a porcelain table made in
Saint Petersburg. In addition, she mentioned
two secretaries mounted with Sèvres porce-
lain. Standing along one of the long walls of
the room, they supported precious objects
and knickknacks placed on top.'
One of these bowfront upright desks,
richly decorated with six variously shaped
porcelain plaques and gilt-bronze mounts, is
now at the Metropolitan Museum, the gift
of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman in
1976. 1 The upper section, consisting of a
drop front flanked by two open, marble-
lined shelves on either side, rests on a stand
with a drawer in the frieze, supported on
170
four tapering legs connected by a marble
shelf. Unsigned, the piece has been attrib-
uted to the French cabinetmaker of German
birth Martin Carlin, who was known for his
precious furniture mounted with porcelain
(see the entries for nos. 63, 67). He worked
almost exclusively for the dealers in luxury
goods Simon-Philippe Poirier (ca. 1720-1785)
and his partner and successor, Dominique
Daguerre (d. 1796). A similar piece, in the
collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles, is actually stamped by Carlin. 3
Several of the gilt-bronze mounts on the
Metropolitan's secretary, such as the drapery
swags, the border of berried laurel motifs
underneath the gallery, or railing, the pen-
dants of flowers and grapes, and the crossed
sprigs of oak leaves and acorns, recur regu-
larly on furniture either by or attributed to
Carlin. Also typical of his furniture is the
lambrequin-shaped porcelain plaque that
serves as a handle for the drawer in the
stand. It is designed to look as though it par-
tially covers the plaques to the left and right.
The curved sides are set with panels of blue
and white painted tin, or tôle peinte, simu-
lating porcelain.
The large porcelain plaque is decorated
with a flower basket suspended from a bow-
tied ribbon within a blue-ground border.CD
Like the lambrequin-shaped plaque below,
it appears to overlap two narrow, rectangu-
lar flanking plaques, creating a sense of
depth. It bears the date letter for the year
1776 and the mark of the Sèvres painter
Edme-François Bouillat, who specialized in
floral sprays, vases, bouquets, and baskets
of flowers.4 The French word milieu (mid-
dle) is penciled on the back, indicating the
intended placement of the plaque on the
secretary's drop front. 5 Pasted on the back
of the smaller plaques are tiny rectangular
labels printed with the interlaced L's mark
of the Sèvres Manufactory. The labels are
inscribed with the number 60, and on the
back of the larger plaque the number c,6 is
written in ink. These numbers are probably
an indication of the price in livres.
The fall front, lined on the inside with
pale blue moiré silk, opens to an interior
veneered with tulipwood and fitted with three
pigeonholes, a shelf, and six drawers.CD The
drawer fronts are beautifully finished with
tulipwood and framed in amaranth with
stringing of holly and sycamore.
The marble shelves on top, in the open
side compartments, and between the legs
add a substantial weight to the piece,
already laden with porcelain and gilded
bronze. With their openwork galleries, these
shelves are ideal for the safe display of the
small valuables mentioned in the descrip-
tion by its first owner. A black-and-white
photograph published in 1907 shows the
secretary, still at Pavlovsk, with a variety of
porcelain vases, cups, and saucers tucked in
the side compartments and on the shelf
below, creating what must have been a very
colorful sight.
In September of 1781, Paul and Maria
Feodorovna, who was born Princess Sophia-
Dorothea of Württemberg, had left Saint
Petersburg to go on their grand tour, travel-
ing incognito as the comte and comtesse du
Nord. For fourteen months they explored
Italy and France, acquiring artworks and
ordering furnishings for their residence,
then under construction at Pavlovsk. While
in Paris during the spring of 1782, they vis-
ited Daguerre's fashionable shop, À la
Couronne d'Or, on the rue Saint-Honoré,
where they probably bought this secretary
and also commissioned or purchased several
other porcelain-mounted pieces of furniture
that were later installed at Pavlovsk.
After becoming emperor and empress of
Russia in 1796, upon the death of Catherine
the Great, Paul and especially Maria—who
had a deep affinity for Pavlovsk—continued
to make improvements to their former resi-
dence and in the park. Maria spent much time
there as dowager empress, and she left the
palace in 1828 to her youngest son, Grand
Duke Michael Pavlovich (1798-1849), stipu-
lating that nothing should be dispersed or
changed. 7 After Michael's death, the estate
descended to his nephew, Grand Duke Con-
stantine Nicolaievich (1827-1892). Neither
Michael nor Constantine apparently ever
lived in the palace but kept it as a family
museum. Grand Duchess Alexandra Iossif-
ovna (1830-1911), Constantine's widow,
71
became the next owner, and this secretary,
together with its companion in Maria
Feodorovna's boudoir, are said to have
graced her salon. 9 In 1911 she left the
palace to her son, Grand Duke Constantine
Constantinovich (1859-1915). After the
Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government
took possession of Pavlovsk and offered
works of art from the palace for sale.
Traveling to Russia in 1931, the dealer
Joseph Duveen (1869-1939) visited the for-
mer imperial residences and acquired French
tapestries and porcelain-mounted furniture,
including the Museum's secretary. 10 Two
years later Duveen Brothers sent the piece to
the loan exhibition "French Furnishings of
the Eighteenth Century" at the Toledo
Museum of Art." It was sold in 1934 to the
Dutch banker and art collector Fritz Mann-
heimer ( 1890-1939), together with the sec-
ond porcelain-mounted secretary from
Maria Feodorovna's boudoir at Pavlovsk. 11
Both secretaries were back with Duveen
Brothers in 1946, and Charles Wrightsman
bought the Museum's piece, number 29617
of the dealer's stock, in 1954.' 3 DK-G
171
 î. "deux bureaux assez élevés en porcelaine de Sèvres et
bronze, surmontés de petites statues en marbre, de
candélabres, de pendules et de petites pièces de cabi-
net, entre autres d'une petite colonne de lapis lazuli
avec deux vases de même, et de babioles semblables";
quoted in Benois 1903, vol. 3, p. 374.
2. Roche 1912-13, vol. 2, pi. LVI; and Watson 1966a,
pp. 186-90, no. 105. The second secretary, stamped
by Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820), was offered for
sale at Christie's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot
256. It is illustrated in Pradère 1989, p. 395, fig. 485.
3. Bremer-David 1993, pp. 41-42, no. 50. It is mounted
with porcelain plaques bearing the dare letters 1776
and 1777.
4. Savill 1988, vol. 3, pp. 1002-3.
5. Two other plaques have penciled inscriptions on the
back that also refer to their placement on the secre-
tary. One reads droit (right) and the other tiroir
(drawer); illustrated in Watson 1966a, p. 189.
6. Les trésors d'art en Russie 7 (1907), p. 147, pi. 84.
7. Massie 1990, pp. 110-11.
8. Ibid., p. n i .
9. Benois 1903, p. 374, n. 72.
10. Fowles 1976, pp. 195, 198. A jewel coffer from
Maria Feodorovna's bedchamber at Pavlovsk,
acquired by Duveen in 1931, now in Detroit, is
described in Detroit Institute of Arts 1996,
pp. 55-60, no. 8 (entry by Theodore Dell). A
writing table, also from Maria's bedchamber and
bought by Duveen, is Ín the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles; Bremer-David 1993, pp. 58-59, no. 79.
11. French Furnishings 1933, no. 41; and "Royal Suite"
1933-
12. Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Papers and
Correspondence, 1901-81, box 484, f. 4 (microfilm,
reel 339).
13. Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Client
Summary Book, 1910-59,I-Z, 17 November 1954
(microfilm, reel 421).

72.
Rolltop desk

German (Neuwied), ca. 1776-78

David Roentgen (1743-1807)
Oak and cherry, veneered with mahogany, maple,
kingwood, and various other woods, partly
stained; mother-of-pearl; brass, partly gold-
lacquered; gilt-bronze mounts; steel and brass
operating mechanisms
cm
H. 53 'A in. (135.9 )> w- 43 '/* 'n- (ii°-5 cm),
d. 26'A in. (67.3 cm)
Inlaid beneath the keyhole escutcheon on the
lower middle drawer: "DR."
Rogers Fund, 1941
41.82

David Roentgen, son of the cabinetmaker

Abraham Roentgen (1711-1793),' was a leg-
end in his lifetime. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749-1832), who visited Roentgen's
workshop in Neuwied on the Rhine in
Germany, was so impressed that he him-
self designed a rolltop desk 2 inspired by
"Neuwieder Arbeit," as Roentgen's marvels
of technical ingenuity are often called in
eighteenth-century inventories. 3
The Roentgen family belonged to the
prosperous Protestant religious group
known as Herrnhuter. After being expelled
from other settlements, a community of
these Moravians accepted the invitation of
Johann Friedrich Alexander zu Wied
(i706-1791), the count of Neuwied, to set- Fig. 99. General view of the desk with the roll t o p raised and the writing slide extended.
tle in his domain. Aiming to strengthen the
local economy, Count Wied had wisely
granted the internationally connected
Brethren religious freedom, partial exemp- either commissioned by the region's nobility David perfected his father's innovative
tion from local taxes, and unrestricted or made for sale at the annual trade fair in practice of prefabricating elements such as
employment opportunities in their work- Frankfurt am Main. David Roentgen took drawers and marquetry panels that could be
shops. 4 After a humble beginning under charge of the manufactory beginning about assembled and used to make items of differ-
Abraham in 1750, the rapidly expanding 1766-67, some years before the "English ent purpose and appearance. He invented
Roentgen workshop produced exceptional Cabinetmaker," as Abraham Roentgen called furniture types that soon were in demand
furnishings of very forward-looking design, himself, resigned officially. throughout the German-speaking cultural

172
72

173

Fig. ioo. View of the rolltop desk with the hinged front section of the lower right compartment pulled
forward and swung aside.
area. Characteristic of Neuwied furniture
are sophisticated mechanical devices and a
wide range of native and exotic veneers and
marquetry surface decorations. Despite
their superb quality, the pieces were not all
exorbitantly expensive, for the Herrnhuters
believed in an "economy of quality," one
based on the highest craftsmanship and a
just price. 5 Roentgen was able to keep costs
down by streamlining production. His inno-
vative measures included the already men-
tioned préfabrication of case and decorative
elements and extended to other efficiencies,
such as employing dozens of specialized
artisans to work on different parts of his
furniture and the use of standardized meas-
urements. The Museum owns two pieces
that illustrate the latter practice. One is the
present chinoiserie-decorated desk and the
other is a slightly earlier rolltop (fig. i o i ) . '
The latter lacks a superstructure, and its
marquetry is a symphony of floral arrange-
ments hanging on ribbon-tied swags by rings
and delicately inlaid threads. Astonishingly,
the width and depth measurements of both
desks are identical. Roentgen's furniture
!74
could also be quickly dismantled for pack-
ing and transport, making it easy for him to
supply customers from the Atlantic to the
Neva: in 1779 he was named furniture maker
to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France,
and between 1783 and 1789 he sold hun-
dreds of pieces of furniture to the Russian
empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796),
who became his most important client.
David's reorganization of his father's
workshop culminated in a brilliant market-
ing ploy, the Hamburg furniture lottery of
1769. Debts that had accumulated during
the economic depression following the
Seven Years' War had to be paid off, and
David realized that it would be necessary to
cull his stock of outdated items in order to
regain financial liquidity. The first prize in
this lottery was an imaginative and showy
piece especially created to promote the work-
shop's capabilities by summarizing its latest
inventions and technology and to attract
lottery-ticket buyers. In the announcement,
Roentgen described this piece and its delicate
marquetry embellishment as "a desk with top
artistically decorated with Chinese figures,
inlaid à la mosaïque, . . . This work could be
. . . compared to painter's work without any
hesitation . . . all the figures are created from
wood . . . they are exactly like a painting, one
that could be gone over with a plane without
losing anything of its beauty." 7 This long-
lost piece in Roentgen's oeuvre has recently
been identified as a writing desk in the col-
lection of the Danske Kunstindustrimuseum
in Copenhagen.
A novelty in the 1770s, the rolltop mech-
anism was most likely adapted by Roentgen
from English and French prototypes. 9 The
workshop first used it, about 1773, follow-
ing an earlier desk model with a slanted
fall front possibly inspired by designs of
Bavarian Rococo architect François Cuvilliés
(1695-1768).'° A terminus post quern of
1773 is established by a dated rolltop in the
Residenz, Munich." The Museum's desk has
six legs instead of the usual four,'2, but it is
not the most elaborate of all the desks pro-
duced at the Roentgen workshop; in many,
often at the push of a button, the most
amazing mechanical actions take place.
Traditionally, however, it is considered a
preeminent example of Roentgen's produc-
tion methods and artistic creativity. Hardly
any publication on the history of furniture
or ornamental marquetry omits the Museum's
masterpiece.' 3 The inlaid monogram "DR"
on the lower middle drawer is of the utmost
rarity.CD Its presence demonstrates the mas-
ter's satisfaction with what he must have
considered an exceptionally refined desk.
The quality and perfectionism seen here
indicate that Roentgen sought recognition
for his marquetry and mechanical furniture.
His ambition set him apart from most if not
all his European competitors.
When the key to the lock in the lower
middle drawer is turned to the right, the
compartment to the right of the kneehole
slides forward, driven by a spring. A button
underneath can be pressed to release the
front half of the compartment. This swings
aside to reveal two drawer panels veneered
with exotic kingwood, each with four pulls
(fig. 100). Not every pull is functional, how-
ever, for the compartment contains only two
deep drawers, not four shallow ones. The
veneer, which was cut from matching sheets,
has a curtainlike look, even though the
grain lines are broken by brass moldings.CD
Pressing in and turning the key to the left
opens the compartment to the left of the
kneehole; pressing it in halfway and turning
 bureau plat (see the entry for no. 57). David
Roentgen developed versions that satisfied
his large and diverse clientele. The perfec-
tion and ingeniousness of these writing
desks make them to this day the most col-
lectible of collectibles. WK

I am indebted to Dr. Dietrich Fabian, and Bernd

Willscheid, who generously gave me permission to con-
sult the restricted Roentgen archives (part of which is
now at the Kreismuseum, Neuwied). Dr. Fabian has
entrusted me with the task of continuing the Roentgen
Archive Project. I am deeply grateful for his confidence
and his continuing advice.

1. An unpublished tea chest by Abraham Roentgen is in

Fig. i o i . Rolltop desk by David Roentgen, ca. 1775. O a k , pine, cherry and bois satiné, veneered with
thuya, tulipwood, satinwood, green- and brown-stained w o o d , h a r e w o o d , s n a k e w o o d , walnut, and
a m b o y n a ; 45 x 43 Vi x 26 Vi in. The Metropolitan M u s e u m of Art, N e w York, Gift of Samuel H . Kress
F o u n d a t i o n , 1958 (58.75.55).
it to the left disengages the writing surface,
which can then be pulled forward by means
of the drop-loop handles as one rolls back
the curved top to open up the interior. The
superstructure encloses a single, wide drawer.
The colorful marquetry on the outside of
the Museum's collection (ace. no. j999.427); for sim-
ilar chests, see Koeppe 1997, pp. 105-7, figs- 21—23.
2. On Goethe's rolltop desk design, of about 1779, see
Fabian 2001, p. 27.
3. The term may be translated as "Neuwied work"
or "of Neuwied craftsmanship." See Fabian 1996,
pp. 310-414.
4. Strömer 1988; and L. E. Graf 2004.
5. Nef 1974, p. 132; and Stürmer 1979b, p. 268.
6. On this second rolltop, see Fabian 1996, p. 104,
no. 226. Four other pieces made by the workshop
under David Roentgen are in the Museum's collec-
tion: a commode (see the entry for no. 75); an oval
traveling table (ace. no. 58.75.39; see Fabian 1996,
p. 49, no. 59); a long-case clock (ace. no. 1975.101;
see Fabian 1996, p. 126, no. 288); and a clock given
by The Ruth Stanton Family Foundation, in honor
of Wolfram Koeppe (ace. no. 2002.237; see "Recent
Acquisitions" 2003, pp. 26-27 lentry by Wolfram
Koeppe|). On the traveling table, a band-and-bow
motif featuring a knife suspended by thin threads
ture en bois, or "painting in wood") were may symbolize the important role of the Moravian
Brethren in the knife-making industry during the late
extremely expensive." With an eye to cut- eighteenth century, a specialty that is still practiced
ting costs, the canny Roentgen used stained by Moravians in South Africa; my thanks to the
Hillwood Museum and Gardens, Washington, D.C.,
local woods to simulate bois des Indes in
for this information. There is also a questionable side
many areas of this desk. table (ace. no. 1979.356.207; see Fabian 1996, p. 146,
By the last quarter of the eighteenth cen- no. 338, where it is described as in a private collection).

the desk is set into large panels of maple
wood.CD As is the case with other Roentgen
pieces, these panels may once have been
stained with a preparation that turned the
maple blue-gray or brown. In this case a
gray background would have been excep-
tionally striking, for the visible grain of the
maple would have evoked the bluish gray
fabric that was popular in the late 1770s.' 4
Like a theater scrim, it would have set off
the lively inlaid scenes of Chinese life, con-
fining them within an apparently shallow,
three-dimensional space. These vignettes,
which the workshop used for numerous
pieces, derive from drawings by the German
painter Januarius Ziek (1730-1797), who
worked closely with the artisans at Neuwied.' 5
The exotic woods called bois des Indes that
were used for marquetry of this type (which
because of its superb quality was called pein-
tury, Parisian cabinetmakers had largely
abandoned Rococo marquetry in favor of
Neoclassical-style veneer with a beautiful
grain.' 7 This desk, which must date early in
the transitional period, may be a rare exam-
ple of Roentgen's "market research" into
his customers' willingness to purchase
pieces executed in the new style. When the
roll top is lifted and the dazzling display of
chinoiserie disappears, the interior is seen to
be entirely Neoclassical, presenting a serene
but noble contrast between the richly satu-
rated color of mahogany veneer and the
sparkling ormolu and gilded-brass milleraie
(ribbed) panels and brass moldings, which
have preserved some residue of their former
gold-lacquered surface (fig. 99).1
In the 1770S the rolltop desk became the
status symbol par excellence in the libraries
of important men, supplanting the Rococo
7. "Ein Bureau mit einem Aufsatz auf das künstlichste,
mit Chinuesischen Figuren, a la Mosaique eingelegt,
dergestalten dass ich . . . ohne Scheu . . . der Critique
eines Kunst-Mahlers frey unterwerfen darf . . . dass
alle Figuren von lauter Hölzern gemacht, dass diesel-
ben eine vollkommene Mahlerey präsentiren, welche
mit dem Hobel, ohne dadurch etwasan ihrer Schönheit
zu verlieren, [überfahren werden können]"; the text
is given in full in Fabian 1996, p. 331, doc. no. 2.71.
8. Inv. no. B 36-1921. The present author examined the
desk in 1999 and again in June 2005 and identified it
as the one described in Roentgen's lottery advertise-
ment. The latter mentions that there was a clavichord
(now lost) hidden behind a fall front that looked on
the outside like a row of three drawers below the
"preciously inlaid" writing compartment. The upper
part held two cabinets that were also inlaid with
figura! Chinese scenes of birds and floral rocaille for-
mations, probably influenced by the prints of Gabriel
Huquier (1695-1772); see Gruber 1996, pp. 264,
308, 316, 322. The central jalousie with a figurai
theater scene (now also lost) was divided and could
be rolled sideways like a curtain (as indicated by gaps
on both sides) to reveal a gilt-metal musical clock.
On the top was a finely worked brass balustrade; see
Salverte 1934-35, p. 269; Fabian 1986, pp. 100-101,
nos. 197-200; and Fabian 1996, p. 331, doc. no. 2.70.

175
 9- Havard 1887-90, vol. r, col. 471.
io. Laran 1925, pi. 65; see also Fabian 1996,
pp. 95-103, nos. 204, 210, 211, 220, 223. A multi-
functional table model by Roentgen (see Fabian
1996, pp. 25-26, nos. 9, 10; and Zinnkann 2005,
pp. 26-31) was inspired by the central section
of a console table reproduced in an engraving in
L'architecture française published by J. Mariette
about 1730 (see Pradère 2003, p. 159).
11. Fabian 1996, p. 100, no. 214; and Langer and
Württemberg 1996, pp. 222-39, n o s - 65-67 (entries
by Christoph, Graf von Pfeil on three rolltop desks).
12. Fabian 1996, pp. 104-7, nos. 227-33.
13. See, for example, Morley 1999, p. 288, pi. 593. See
also Baulez 1996; Gruber 1996, p. 297; and cata-
logue of a sale at Christie's, London, 7 July 2005,
pp. 174-79, l o t 4 ° ° ( t n e Museum's piece is illustrated
on p. 176).
14. I am most grateful to Yannick Chastang for bringing
this detail to my attention on 21-23 March 2004,
when he, Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator,
Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan
Museum, and I examined the present desk. For the
gray stain, see Baumeister et al. 1997, p. 263, fig. 1,
p. 266, fig. 2a.
15. Zick's drawings for the Neuwied workshop are based
on prints by François Boucher (1703-1770), Jean
Pillement (1728-1808), and Gabriel Huquier. Gruber
1996, pp. 256, 275-323; and Reepen and Handke
1996, pp. 54-5 6 -
16. As Michael Stürmer has observed, "bois des Indes
was an expensive and highly speculative commodity";
Stürmer 1978, p. 800. See also "Marquetrie," in
Diderot 1751-65, vol. 10 (1765), pp. 137-43;
Roubo 1769-75, pt. 4, p. 1259; and Baulez 1996.
17. Gruber 1996, p. 297.
18. The gilded mounts on the desk are Neoclassical,
with the exception of the "Chippendale handles" on
the small drawers in the compartments of the lower
section, which were part of a sizable purchase that
Abraham Roentgen had already made from metal
merchants in Birmingham, England. A letter of 1775
from David Roentgen to Karoline Luise, margravine
of Baden-Durlach, describes the price differences
between mercury-gilded mounts and the gold-
lacquered {or polished brass) mounts that the
Roentgens imported from England through their
Moravian connections in London and Birmingham;
see Fabian 1986, pp. 357-58, doc. no. 2.141.
For English mounts of different qualities, see N.
Goodison 1975; and Koeppe 1989b.

73-
Mechanical table

French, 1778
Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806); mechanism
by Jean-Gotfritt Mercklein (1733-1808)
Oak veneered with marquetry of bois satiné,
holly and ebonized holly; amaranth, barberry,
stained sycamore, and green-lacquered wood;
gilt-bronze mounts; velvet; mirror glass
H. 31 in. (78.7 cm), w. 44'A in. (113 cm),
d. 27V4 in. (69.2 cm)
Painted on the underside: "No. 2964."
Rogers Fund, 1933
33-12

For a table to serve Queen Marie Antoinette

(1755-1793) during her confinement pre-
ceding the birth of her first child—Marie
Thérèse Charlotte, Madame Royale, the
future duchesse d'Angouléme (1778-1851)—
a unique piece of furniture was required. For
this occasion Jean-Henri Riesener created a
multifunctional table for eating, for the toi-
lette, and for writing in both a standing and a
seated position. The mark 2964 identifies it in
the archives of French royal furniture, the
journal du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne: "A
mechanical table of different uses. 1. for eat-
ing. 2. for dressing. 3. for writing while
standing or seated. The compartments in
marquetry of cut mosaic design of mahogany
with yellow rosettes inlaid on a yellow
ground surrounded with black and white
fillets, the top raises to different heights and
contains seven compartments. . . .'" CD It
was one of the first of the many important
pieces of furniture executed by Riesener for
Marie Antoinette. Another detailed contem-
porary description of the table shows that Fig. 1 0 1 . T h r e e - q u a r t e r s view of the mechanical table with both the t o p and the center section raised.

176
Jean-Gotfritt Mercklein, who as méchanicien
de la reine had the royal warrant for excellence
in his trade, made the mechanical fittings.1
The top of the table can be raised or
lowered by means of the crank at the side
(fig. 102). The central panel of the top can
be raised for use as a reading desk or reversed
to form a dressing-table mirror. At each side
of the top are three compartments for cos-
metic and writing equipment, whose hinged
lids are released by corresponding buttons
on the front edge of the table.
Marie Antoinette appears to have been
particularly fond of this table and kept it
constantly by her side. 3 She did, however,
place it at the disposal of Gustavus III, king
of Sweden (1746-1792), while he was visit-
ing Versailles and the Trianon in the early
summer of 1784, as she did with the other
mechanical table by Riesener now in the
Metropolitan Museum (see the entry for
no. 77). Both required some modest restora-
tion by the maker prior to the visit.
When the royal family left Versailles on
6 October 1789, Marie Antoinette had the
present table brought to Paris, where it dis-
appeared for more than a century before
surfacing in the collection of the due de Dino.
After some short and not well-documented
trips to England, in 1932 it was back in
Paris, in the Parisian residence of the New
York banker George Blumenthal (1858-
1941 ), a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum.
It was acquired by the Museum at the Paris
sale of his furniture, pictures, drawings, and
engravings in December of that year.4 WR
1. "Dudit jour [12 décembre 1778]. Livré par le S.
Riezener. Pour le service de la Reine au château de
Versailles. 2964.—Une table mécanique à différents
usages, i" pour manger, 2° pour la toilette, 3" pour
écrire debout et assis, en marqueterie à compartimens
en mosaïques découpées de bois satiné avec rosettes
jaune incrustée sur un fond jaune entouré de filets
blanc et noir, le dessus se lève à différents degrés de
hauteur contenant 7 cases. . . ." The entry is quoted
in full in Verlet 1963, p. 134, no. 17.
2. Ibid., pp. 134-35. $ e e a ' s o Lequesne 1997.
3. Verlet 1963, pp. 134-35.
4. It is described in Rubinstein-Bloch 1926-30, vol. 6,
pis. XVII, XVIII. In the Blumenthal sale, 1 December
1932, at the Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, it was
lot 168.
177
74-
Armchair (fauteuil à la reine)
French (Paris), 1779
Designed by Jacques Gondouin (1737-1818);
made by François Foliot II (1748-^1839);
carving by Mme Pierre-Edme Babel; gilding by
Marie-Catherine Renon
Carved and gilded beech; covered in modern
silk lampas
H. 39 in. (99.1 cm), w. 25'A in. (64.8 cm),
d. 19V4 in. (50.2 cm)
Painted on the webbing underneath the seat:
"Du 13 ..." and "du No 194/6." and a crowned
double V.
Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1944
44-157-2
This splendid armchair is one of the best-
documented pieces of furniture in the
Museum's collection. Part of a large set, it
was delivered on 20 December 1779 to
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) for use dur-
ing the winter months in her Grand Cabinet
Intérieur, one of the rooms of her private
apartment at the Château de Versailles.'
Evidence of this royal provenance is the
crowned double V, the mark for Versailles,
on the webbing underneath the seat. The
accompanying inventory number "du No
194/6" seems to indicate that this was the
sixth of the six armchairs commissioned.^
Detailed accounts pertaining to the
design and execution of the garniture reveal
the names of most of the artists and crafts-
men involved. Named dessinateur des
Meubles de la Couronne in 1769, the archi-
tect Jacques Gondouin (or Gondoin) was
responsible for the design of both the furni-
ture and the magnificent white silk-satin
brocade that was to be used as wall hang-
ings, curtains, and drapery in the room and
for the upholstery of the furniture as well. A
colored drawing for the silk-satin brocade
has been preserved (fig. 103 ),2 and the rich-
ness and complexity of the pattern, partly
executed in silk chenille to create a sense of
depth, is known from surviving lengths. 3
Woven in the Lyons workshops of Jean
Charton, the fabric had an elegant ara-
besque design consisting of floral garlands
and foliated branches enclosing applied me-
dallions with six different pastoral trophies.
François Foliot II, member of a well-
known family of Parisian joiners, who col-
laborated regularly with Gondouin, assembled
178
the chair. 4 The fine carving of the frame,
with its inverted cornucopias serving as arm
supports and its legs with spiraling flutes
upholding leaf capitals, was the work of
Madame Pierre-Edme Babel. The reparure,
or the refinement of the carving where it
had been dulled by the preparatory layers of
whiting; the addition of further detail; as
well as the application of the gilding were
done by Marie-Catherine Renon, the widow
of Gaspard-Marie Bardou. Claude-François
Capin (d. 1789), tapissier ordinaire de sa
majesté, did the upholstering and also sup-
plied dustcovers for the entire set.
Without its luxurious show cover and its
comfortable tasseled seat cushion, the chair's
appearance is changed. Remnants of origi-
nal upholstery belonging to other pieces of
the same suite indicate that a clear harmony
was intended between the decoration of the
frame, on the one hand, and the upholstery
and passementerie, on the other. 5 The styl-
ized leaf moldings, known as feuilles d'eau,
carved on the outer back of the chair, for
instance, were repeated in the original
woven borders that complemented the satin
brocade, as well as in the simulated gilded
frame surrounding the medallions.CD A
raised floral trim originally applied along the
frame formed a subtle transition between Fig. 103. Design by Jacques Gondouin for the
the tiny flowers, so-called feuilles de refentes, silk-satin brocade used for the furniture and hang-
densely carved on the chair's rails, and the ings in the private apartment of Marie Antoinette
show cover.' CD All the gilded and woven at Versailles, 1779. Pen over graphite and colored
washes. Kunstbibliothek, Berlin (Inv. H.d.z. 5040).
blossoms on this magnificent set of furni-
ture, intended for use during the winter,
brought flowers to the queen's surroundings great Francophile, replaced Thomas Jeffer-
when they were not available in nature. son as minister of the United States in
When in 1783 the decor of the queen's France three years later. When he left the
Grand Cabinet Intérieur was altered to country in 1794, Morris received permis-
include white and gold paneling, the wall sion to ship these and other furnishings
hangings and seat furniture were removed. from his hôtel on the rue de la Planche,
They were later used to furnish a small Paris, to his family home, Morrisania, in the
room on the floor above that had formerly Bronx, New York, to which he returned in
been her billiards room. 7 1798. Possibly the first pieces with a royal
The American statesman Gouverneur provenance to enter the United States, they
Morris (1752-1816) purchased the Mu- remained with descendants of Morris and
seum's chair and other pieces of the same set were later dispersed. The only side chair of
at the sales of the contents of Versailles held the set, intended for the use of King Louis
during 1793 and 1794. Having served as XVI, for instance, was given to the New-
an unofficial diplomat for President George York Historical Society not long after
Washington in Paris since 1789, Morris, a Morris's death. A bergère and a fire screen
179
are now in the collection of the Museum of
the City of New York.9 This armchair, then
believed to have been the property of
Thomas Jefferson, was acquired by Mr. and
Mrs. George T. Bliss of New York at an
unknown date and was donated by their
daughter to the Museum in 1944. DK-G
75-
Commode
German (Neuwied), ca. 1775-79
Workshop of David Roentgen (1743-1807);
designs for the figurai marquetry by Januarius Zick
(1730-1797); stencil drawings for and stamp-
cutting of the marquetry by Elie Gervais
1791) and his workshop; frieze mounts
to François Rémond (1747-1812), Paris
Oak, pine, basswood, and cherry wood,
with tulipwood, boxwood, amaranth,
pearwood, and harewood; the drawer linings of
mahogany; gilt-bronze mounts; steel and brass
operating mechanisms; red brocatelle marble top
not original to the commode
H. 35V4 in. (89.5 cm), w. 53 'A in. (135.9
d. 27V4 in. (69.2 cm)
Branded twice on the uprights of the back: a dou-
ble V beneath a crown
The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection,
1982.60.81
During the nineteenth century this impor-
tant commode was acquired by Baron
Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818-1874)
for his collection at Mentmore Towers, in
Buckinghamshire. The grand decoration
and furnishings of this palatial residence
embodied the "gôut Rothschild," a style
created by several members of the
Rothschild banking dynasty who had
turned their attention to art collecting and
philanthropy. 1 The commode was displayed
in one of the upstairs rooms and remained
at Mentmore 1 until 1964, when it made his-
tory as the most expensive piece of furniture
ever sold at auction. 3 Bought by Mrs. Jack
Linsky of New York, the celebrated object
entered the Museum with the Jack and Belle
Linsky collection in 1982. 4 In addition to
the commode's richly decorative appearance
and many intriguing hidden compartments,
1. Verlet 1994, pp. 210-18, 263, no. 30. See also
Kisluk-Grosheide 2005, pp. 78-80, figs. 26, 27. The
set originally comprised a type of settee known as a
canape, also called a lit de repos à la turc; six arm-
chairs; two different bergères, or armchairs that are
upholstered between the arms and seat; a stool; a fire
screen, as well as a folding screen with four leaves; a
side chair for the king; a bench to be placed in a
niche of the room; and a footstool.
2. See also Baulez 2001, p. 30, fig. 2.
3. A length of silk is in the collection of the Musée
National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon;
see Soieries de Lyon 1988, pp. 41, 56-57, 116-17,
no. 24.
4. Gautier 1992, p. 60.
the possibility that its first owner was Louis
XVI (1754-1793) contributes to its renown
and its value. Branded twice on the uprights
(1721- of the back with a double V beneath a
attributed crown, which is widely believed to be the
château mark of Versailles,5 the piece was
veneered
long thought to have been purchased from
sycamore,
the great German cabinetmaker and entre-
preneur David Roentgen for the private
apartments of Louis XVI.CD Indeed, the
king's expense records mention for 11 April
cm),
1779 the payment of 2,400 livres "to the
Germans for a big commode." In March of
that year the king had already acquired for
1982 his pleasure the ultimate multifunctional
piece of cabinetmaking from Roentgen, a
monumental mechanical writing cabinet
with musical clock and sculptural mounts,
for the enormous sum of 80,000 livres. That
"royal secretary" was publicized all over
Europe in newspaper articles celebrating
Roentgen's artistic and commercial accom-
plishments as well as his ingenuity in having
created an object that so thoroughly indulged
Louis XVI's passion for locksmithing and
mechanics. The extraordinary piece, twelve
feet high, was dismantled in the 1820s. 7
Also in 1779 Roentgen established a furni-
ture outlet in Paris, and the king named him
Ebéniste-Méchanicien du Roi et de la Reine.
The following year he was inducted into the
Parisian cabinetmakers' guild as a master.
The 1792 inventory of the furniture at
Versailles mentions a piece that may be the
Museum's commode as standing in the
king's private apartment in a room called
the pièce du caffé, off the hall leading to the
5. Fragments of the original upholstery and trim are in
the New-York Historical Society, New York, and in
the Museum of the City of New York.
6. With generous support from the James Parker
Charitable Foundation, the Museum will be able to
reupholster the armchair with a modern copy of the
silk-satin brocade in the near future.
7. Meyer 1994, pp. 45-48.
8. Schreider 1971; and Fiechter 1983, pp. 444-47.
9. Although commissioned for the queen's Grand
Cabinet Intérieur, the canapé was apparently never
used there. It was not among the purchases of
Gouverneur Morris and is now in the collection of
the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
Cour des Cerfs. The account describes it as
"à 3 vantaux," the term for a commode
with three doors concealing the drawer
fronts within. The Museum's piece fits the
description, except that behind the central
door there are shelves, not drawers.CD
Strictly speaking, then, it is a cross between
a commode à vantaux and a variation called
commode en bas d'armoire.9 Two related
examples by Roentgen, one in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London, and the other
at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in
Munich (fig. 104), are similarly designed,
and in an inventory of 1795 a commode that
sounds much like them is listed in the apart-
ment of the comtesse d'Artois at Versailles.10
Although the stamped double Vmark on
the Museum's commode strongly suggests
that it was once used by Louis XVI, 11 there
are discrepancies between the 1792 Ver-
sailles inventory description and the illu-
sionistic marquetry on the Museum's object.
The inventory describes a commode veneered
with marquetry "sur les 3 faces avec medail-
lons à figures." This may describe a com-
mode with figurai medallions on all three
sides, in which case the Museum's commode
is eliminated from consideration, or it may
describe a commode decorated in the man-
ner of the ones in Munich and London with
two panels (out of five) designed as oval
medallions with beaded frames, in the fash-
ionable Neoclassical manner. As we shall
see, the Museum's commode may once have
had such a decorative scheme on the front.
The commode à vantaux in the comtesse
d'Artois's apartment was decorated on the
75

front with scenes from the commedia

dell'arte theater within beaded gilt-bronze
frames. The top was of bleu turquin marble,
a blue gray stone streaked with white and
with pale veins and inclusions, of the type
that still graces the tops of the commodes in
Munich and London. 12 This marble very
likely came from a quarry near Leun on the
Lahn River, not far from the Roentgen shop
at Neuwied. 1 ' It is probable that the Mu-
seum's commode originally had a bleu
turquin marble top. It would have comple-
mented the veneer panels beneath the gilded
frieze mounts: those panels were once stained
bluish green, as can be seen when the mounts
are detached.CD The present replacement top
is of reddish brocatelle marble from a
Catalonian quarry near Tortosa. 14
Lion's-head pulls are applied to the small
Fig. 104. Commode by David Roentgen, ca. 1775-79. Oak, pine, walnut, mahogany,
drawers inside the Museum's commode (see boxwood, maple, mother-of-pearl, gilded bronze, and marble; 34V2 x 53'/8 x z63/s in.
fig. 105). There are similar pulls on the ©Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, Sammlung Fritz Thyssen (90/107).

Fig. 105. The lower right door of the commode has been opened and the top compartment pulled for-
ward, or "broken." In this view the released hook and small lion's-head drawer pulls are visible.
drawers of a monumental cabinet that
Roentgen supplied to Prince Charles-
Alexandre de Lorraine et de Bar (1712-
1780) in Brussels in 1776. The prince's cabi-
net is also embellished with bold lion's-head
ormolu mounts at the lower corners. 15 Lions'
heads and a relief of Hercules wearing the
pelt of the Nemean Lion embellish the most
elaborate surviving piece of Roentgen furni-
ture, the secretary of King Frederick William
II of Prussia (1744-1797), now in Berlin. It
was made in 1779, the same year Louis XVI
bought his large writing cabinet. That
Roentgen reserved the use of the heraldic
animal associated with Herculean power
only for the decoration of objects intended
for rulers would seem to support a royal
provenance for the Museum's commode. 16
In 1984 William Rieder observed that
the scrolling mounts on the frieze of the
Museum's commode are replacements; they
conceal holes and marks that were made
when rectangular mounts like those on the
London and Munich commodes were
attached; 17 moreover, they project over the
edge of the frieze in some places and clearly
were not custom-made for this piece.CD They
are, however, extremely refined and have
been attributed to the Paris maker François
Rémond. 1 ' The mounts on the pilaster
strips, decorated with S-scrolls of berried
laurel and bow mounts, are typical of
Roentgen. 19 The craftsmanship of the mov-
ing parts of the interior, such as the sliding
tambour tops of the drawers that swing out,
reflects Roentgen at his best.
In the summer of 1774 Roentgen had
gone on a market-exploration trip to Paris,
where he met the German engraver Johann
Georg Wille (1715-1808). The latter's memo-
randa commemorate the meeting: "Mr.
Roentgen [the] famous cabinetmaker, . . .
visited me with a letter of introduction from
Mr. Zick, a painter in Koblenz, an old
friend. Because Mr. Roentgen did not know
anybody in Paris, I was able to help him
with the names of some sculptors and
draftsmen, whom he needs." 20
The painter Januarius Zick, who sent
Roentgen to Wille, was certainly responsible
for the designs of the delicate marquetry on
the Museum's commode. His considerable
flair and attention to detail give these sub-
jects a heightened theatricality and visual
importance. Like the scenes on the comtesse
d'Artois's commode, the center panel on the
front illustrates well-known stock charac-
ters of the commedia dell'arte, the Italian
comedy theater, which enjoyed a revival in
Europe during the second half of the eigh-
teenth century.CD At right is Harlequin.
At left is his sweetheart Columbine ("little
dove"), a lady's maid with a flower-decorated
straw hat, who in eighteenth-century French
comedy became the intrigant, assuming
a variety of undefined roles opposite
Harlequin. In the center is the beardless
Anselmo with a walking stick, who—like
Columbine—was long misidentified on this
commode. 21
Zick's designs had to be transformed into
stencil drawings, and the seal cutter Elie
Gervais was employed to do this. Surviving
bills document that Gervais and his work-
shop were paid, for example, in 1773 "for
drawing letters on paper and wood" and
"for the drawing and engraving of heads
and figures" as well as for "the engraving of
a large piece with roses and the costs of the
stamp." The 1773 inventory of Gervais's
workshop mentions, among decorative
mount models and highly refined tools, a
long list of "engraving stamps" for figures
and ornaments. 22 Could this mean that
parts of the famous mosaic marquetry—the
celebrated peinture en bois (painting in
wood) that Roentgen perfected and held a
monopoly on—were produced by stamping
out especially complicated or minuscule
pieces of veneer?25
The scene in the Museum's center front
panel is nearly identical to those in the cen-
ter of the London and Munich commodes;
however, the composition may be slightly
earlier because the chair seen at left has
cabriole legs, which had been popular in the
Rococo period, 24 whereas the chairs in the
Munich and London panels have a
Neoclassical design. 25 On the chair in all
three panels sits a small long-haired spaniel
with drooping ears.
Almost identical to but in reversed posi-
tion from the ones on the London and
Munich commodes are the side panels of
the present example. Each depicts a light-
flooded room with a tall, curtainless case-
ment window as a backdrop for two musi-
cians. On the right side, a violinist and a
cellist share a trestle stand. Each reads the
music from his own sheet, on which the
word "allegro" is written. Brass horns hang
on the wall. On the left side, two woodwind
players rest at a table.CD On the wall behind
them hang two oboes, and a bassoon leans
against the music stand. Two sheets of
music most likely for a trio, are propped
up on the stand/ 1
The Munich and London commodes
have more complicated mechanical operat-
ing devices than does the Museum's piece.
The other significant difference between
them is the composition seen in the panels
that flank the one in the center of the front.
The London and Munich panels show spec-
tators in theater boxes, whereas the Museum's
panels show an empty stage. Josef Maria
Greber proposed that two oval marquetry
panels in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in
Paris that match the ones to either side of
the center panel on the London and Munich
commodes were originally the left and right
doors of the Museum's piece.2-7 This is possi-
ble but cannot be confirmed. Parenthetically,
it is interesting to note that there are a num-
ber of oval panels, either documented or in
existence, that show the theater-box scene. 1
This suggests that Roentgen used the design
to decorate several different pieces of furni-
ture, as was, in fact, common practice at
his shop.
The question why empty stages appear
on the side doors of the Museum's com-
mode remains unsolved. They must convey
a message: either the actors have departed
and the curtain will come down momentar-
ily or we, the audience, wait for new actors
to appear suddenly from the back. The fact
that the marquetry on the flanking doors is
slightly different from that of the central
door, as is the choice of veneer woods, sug-
gests another possibility. Could it be that
originally these doors were decorated with
royal emblems or with medallions depicting
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, which had
to be removed—and were appropriately
replaced in a Paris workshop by two empty
stages—so that the commode could be
sold during the Revolutionary auctions of
1793-94? WK
I thank Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator, Department
of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum, for
discussing the various problems of this commode so
patiently with me over the years. This entry could not
have been realized without her enthusiasm.
r. On the "gôut Rothschild," see Heuberger 1994.
2. Mentmore 1884, vol. 2, p. 187, no. 10, where it is
described as by David de Luneville [David Roentgen)
and [Pierre] Gouthière (1732-1813/14}.
3. Earl of Rosebery Collection, catalogue of a sale at
Sotheby's, London, 17 April 1964, lot 54. The
commode sold for 63,000 pounds sterling
(176, 400 dollars).
4. On the commode, see Greber 1980, figs. 537-42;
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1984, pp. 223-25,
no. 136 (entry by William Rieder); and Fabian 1996,
p. 131, no. 299.
5. The stamp has recently been associated with pieces
that originally furnished the Petit Trianon at
Versailles and not the château; conversation with
Yannick Chastang, March 2004.
6. "aux allemands pour une grande commode L 2400";
quoted in Beauchamp 1909, p. 71, and Fabian 1996,
p. 347, doc. no. 2.171.
7. Plans to divide it up and readapt sections as smaller,
more usable furniture were made as early as 1789
and 1791. Himmelheber 1994, p. 462; Fabian 1996,
pp. 164-65, no. 365; and Ramond 2000, vol. 3,
pp.118-29.
8. The description reads as follows: "Une commode
plaquée à tableau de bois fond satiné et ombré sur les
3 faces avec medaillons figures en bois de rapport à
3 vantaux. Le dedans à mechanique orné de bronz
[sic] à dessus de marque \sic] bleu turquin de 4 p s
2 p° de large. 3600 [livres]." Archives Nationales,
Paris, O' 3354, "Inventaire général des meubles de la
Famille Royalle, Versailles," 1792, p. 52.
9. Havard 1887-90, vol. 1, pi. 54, col. 937; and
Fleming and Honour 1989, p. 210.
10. For the Victoria and Albert Museum commode, see
Wilk 1996, pp. 128-29 (entry by Sarah Medlam); for
the Munich commode, see Himmelheber 1991; for the
Versailles inventory information on the comtesse
d'Artois commode, see Kisluk-Grosheide 2005, p. 88,
and n. 12 below.
T 1. The double V mark appears on other Museum
pieces. Some of them have been questioned; see
Kisluk-Grosheide 2005, p. 71, fig. 12, p. 79, fig. 29.
In 2003 Mechthild Baumeister examined the back of
the London commode, which Ís not branded with the
double V but ís constructed in much the same man-
ner as the New York piece. She concluded that the
back of the New York piece is original. The two
marks on the present commode do not look suspi-
cious, but in the absence of any inventory number
we cannot say for sure whether it was ordered for
the king's private rooms or some other place at
Versailles.
12. "représentant des scènes de comédie ainsi que
sur les côtés . . . le tout en bronze doré au mat et
encadrement de perles enfilées, à dessus de marbre
bleu turquin"; inventory of 1795 of the apartment of
the comtesse d'Artois at Versailles, quoted in Molinier
1898, p. 206, n. 2, no. 5, and Kisluk-Grosheide 2005,
p. 88. The countess's piece may be identifiable with
the commode at the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London. Its earlier provenance is unknown. The com-
mode at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich,
was once part of the collection of the grand dukes of
Sachsen Weimar; see catalogue of a sale at Sotheby's,
London, 10 June 1932, lot 136. The Weimar and
Gotha branch of the Sachse family had early connec-
tions with the Roentgen workshop. See Fabian 1996,
p. 334, where an entry in the account book of Elie
Gervais for 1771 (doc. no. 2.95) is quoted: "David
Roentgen owes Elie Gervais . . . for starting [on
21 June] a drawing for a grand commode with six
figures, on which I [Gervais| drew the head and hands
. . . on 26 [June] I began with even with more care so
that it could be sent to Gotha, and on it I drew the
head and hands, finished on 29 ¡June]." This confirms
that Gervais worked on the composition's most com-
plicated parts, the heads and hands, by himself.
13. I thank the late Prince Friedrich Wilhelm zu Wied, of
Neuwied, and especially his brother Prince Metfried
zu Wied, of Runkel, for their advice and permission
to consult the archives in the palace at Neuwied.
Research on Roentgen's use of local marble from
quarries along the Lahn River, some of which were
owned by the count of Neuwied, is currently being
undertaken by the Roentgen Archive Project.
14. Mielsch 1985, p. 42, nos. 165-67, pi. 5.
15. Fabian 1996, pp. 160-63, no. 364. For the associa-
tion of a ruler with the head and pelt of the Nemean
Lion, see McCormick and Ottomeyer 2004,
pp. i i o - n , n o . 51 (entry by Wolfram Koeppe).
16. Fabian 1996, pp. 166-70, no. 366. There are small
lion's-head pulls on the inner drawers of a rolltop
desk by Roentgen in the Museum (fig. 101), but if
this piece has a royal connection, we do not know
what it was. Lion's-head mounts of similar form are
illustrated in some furniture-mount trade catalogues
from Birmingham, England, where the Roentgens
bought prefabricated mounts in huge quantities;
T. F. Friedman 1975, pi. 40.
17. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1984, pp. 223-25,
no. 1 36 (entry by William Rieder).
18. Baulez 1996, p. 101.
19. Fabian 1996, p. i n , no. 243; see also p. 166,
no. 366 (the corner pilaster strips).
20. Ibid., p. 341, doc. no. 2.133.
21. For a description of the commedia dell'arte subjects
in the eighteenth-century decorative arts, see Chilton
2001; on Anselmo, see p. 1 50. The figures shown
on the center panel of the Museum's commode have
until now been identified as Harlequin, Pantaloon
(who has a pointed beard), and the latter's daughter
Isabella.
22. Fabian 1996, pp. 338-41.
23. See Greber 1980, vol. 1, pp. 127-89; and Ramond
2000, vol. 3, pp. 78-133.
24. A similar ladderback chair is depicted on a panel
mounted as a tabletop on a stand of later date from
the Hodgkins collection that Hans Huth published
in 1928; Huth 1928, pi. 54.
25. Roentgen realized this Neoclassical design in life
size in a comparable chair group of 1771 in Schloss
"Worlitz and as inlaid miniatures in cabinet interiors.
Himmelheber 1991.
26. The composition may be by Christoph Willibald
Gluck (1714-1787), who wrote pieces for Roentgen's
musical devices. I thank Gerhard Croll of the Gluck-
Gesamtausgabe, Salzburg, for this information.
27. Greber 1980, vol. 1, p. 216.
28. One is the tabletop from the Hodgkins collection; see
n. 24 above. Two others, with Roentgen mounts, are
part of a nineteenth-century cabinet; see catalogue of
a sale at Sotheby's, New York, 1:9 November 1993,
lot 70 (sold again later on the Paris art market).
There is yet another example in a French private
collection.
183
7 6.

Side table

English, ca. 1780

Probably after a design by John Yenn
(1750-1821)
Carved, painted, and gilded pine; painted
mahogany top; gilt-bronze drawer pulls; gilt-copper
molding of later date surrounding the top
H. 32% in. (82.6 cm), w. 46 in. (116.8 cm),
d. 21 in. (53.3 cm)
Incised and written on the back, respectively:
"G IV R 54" and "2858."
Fletcher Fund, 1929
29.118.1

The history, date, and authorship of this

bowfront side table have long been a subject
of debate. Among the few pieces of furni-
ture in the Metropolitan's collection with an
English royal provenance (see also no. 59),
the Museum acquired this unusual table
on the London art market in 1929. Its pair
had been given to the Victoria and Albert
Museum during the previous year.1 In view
of the English royal inventory monogram Fig. 106. Full-size design for a tabletop, attributed to John Yenn, ca. 1780. Pen and ink, pencil,
"G IV R," for George IV, Rex, incised on and colored washes. Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E-4988-1910).
the table and its pendant, both pieces were
thought to have been ordered by the Prince
of Wales, the future George IV (1762-
1830), for Carlton House, London. CD That
residence was remodeled for him by the
architect Henry Holland (1745-1806) fol-
lowing the prince's coming of age, in 1783. 2
It is not surprising, then, that Holland was
proposed as the designer of the tables;' how-
ever, as early as 1929, Preston Remington,
curator at the Museum, tentatively expressed
the possibility that Sir William Chambers
(1723-1796), surveyor general and comp-
troller of the Royal Works, was responsible
for the design. 4 Primarily an architect,
Chambers, who referred to himself in 1773
as "really a very pretty connoisseur in furni-
ture," was also known for his designs of
distinctive architectural furnishings in a
heavier, more sculptural manner than the
Fig. 107. Side table from the Great Drawing Room at Gower House, London, attributed to Sefferin
light and elegant style of Robert Adam Aiken after a design by William Chambers, ca. 1770. Gilded wood and marble, 35 x 88'/4 x 29% in.
(1728-1792), his contemporary and rival.5 The Samuel Courtauld Trust, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London (F.1995.XX.1).
When a third, similar but smaller, table,
now in Los Angeles, marked with the same
royal inventory monogram, appeared on the
known to have been designed by Chambers grammed tables derived from Chambers then
art market in 1981, the Chambers attribu-
for the Great Drawing Room at Gower their provenance might well be Buckingham
tion was firmly repeated. This assessment
House, London, in the 1760s (fig. 107). 7 House, London, where the architect worked
was largely based on comparison with a
Later in the 1980s some scholars argued during the 1760s, and their date might be
pair of bigger and more monumental tables
that if the model for the three mono- somewhat later, about 1770.

184
Fig. io8. Top of the Museum's side table

185
 The discovery of a full-size, partly col-
ored drawing related to the painted decora-
tion on the tops of all three tables, but
particularly the smaller one (fig. 106), has
brought forward yet another theory. The
unsigned drawing, pricked for transfer, is
attributed to Chambers's talented pupil and
draftsman John Yenn.9 Yenn appears to
have frequently made copies or finished
versions of original drawings by Chambers
and continued to work in his master's
manner after 1771, when he was no longer
Chambers's apprentice. 10 Was he the designer
of the three monogrammed tables? It seems
altogether possible. If so, familiar with
Chambers's bold and innovative design for
the Gower House tables but working on a
different scale, Yenn added lightness and
greater refinement to the conception, creat-
ing a remarkably different effect."
Since no evidence has been found to date
that the tables were either at Carlton House
or at Buckingham House, it has been sug-
gested that they were ordered for Queen
Charlotte's new Drawing Room at Windsor
Castle, for which Yenn did extensive work
in 1795. 12 The incised royal marks are in
accordance with those used at Windsor in
the late 1820s.
The tables may well have left the royal
collection at an 1836 sale of surplus furni-
ture and other objects formerly at Carlton
House, Windsor Castle, and Buckingham
Palace, making it hard to establish their
proper provenance. Held at Buckingham
Palace, this sale included "a pair of gilt
semicircular pier tables, with painted tops"
and "a ditto" (referring to a matching one,
conceivably the smaller table).' 3 The two
larger tables were later at Weeting Hall,
Norfolk, the seat of the local squire, William
Angerstein (1811-1897). They were sold
from Weeting Hall with a Carlton House
provenance in 1895.' 4 The gilded frames of
the tables incorporate a trapezoidal recess
under the top, not unlike the kneehole space
below a desk. This is flanked by convex
panels forming simulated drawer fronts that
are carved with crossed laurel branches and
mounted with gilt-bronze drawer pulls.
Some of the carved decoration, such as the
drapery swags on the collars of the tapering
and partly fluted legs, relate closely to those
found on the Gower House tables. The same
is true of the slender classical urns directly
above the legs, here embellished with bucra-
nia, the ox horns playfully extended into
186
elongated handles.CD Instead of the Greek-
key ornament on Chambers's Gower House
tables, the friezes are carved with squares
enclosing paterae and acanthus ornament.
The tops of the three tables from the
royal collection are painted bright yellow
and have classical scenes in grisaille against
a deep reddish brown background resembling
the color of porphyry. Surrounded by a frame
of drapery festoons suspended from a classi-
cal urn in the center and rams' heads at the
corners, the central mythological depiction
varies in each case. The Meeting of Bacchus
and Ariadne on the Isle of Naxos is rendered
on the Museum's table (fig. 108) and was
based on a composition by the Italian painter
Guido Reni (1575-1642). Commissioned
and executed in 1637-40 for the bedroom
ceiling in Queen's House, Greenwich, resi-
dence of Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-
1669), the painting met a sad fate not long
afterward.' 5 In 1650 the apparently prudish
widow of the second owner, the Italian
financier Michel Particelli d'Emery ( 1 5 9 5 -
1650), comptroller general of France under
Cardinal Mazarin, had the painting destroyed
because of its excessive nudity; however, it
remained known through copies and engrav-
ings.1 An earlier work by the same painter,
Aurora Scattering Flowers for the Chariot of
Apollo, of 1614, served as source for the cen-
tral scene on the table now in London. The
original was a fresco in the garden loggia
of Cardinal Scipione Borghese's Palazzo
Pallavicini-Rospigliosi in Rome, but the ver-
sion on the table must have been taken from
one of the engravings based on the fresco.17 It
is interesting to note that Chambers had used
the same two compositions by Reni in a
design for the library ceiling of Woburn
Abbey, Bedfordshire, of 1770.18
Unlike the scrolling foliage and urn deco-
ration in Yenn's drawing, medallions with
classical figures painted in grisaille flank the
mythological scenes on the Museum's table
and its pair in London. Personifications of
Fortune and Victory accompany the Bacchus
and Ariadne, while Music and Architecture
are represented on either side of the Aurora.
The roundels with putti below the central
depiction on both tables signify love. The top
of the third table has as its main decoration a
composition after Galatea, a fresco painted by
Raphael (1483-1520) in the Villa Farnesina
in Rome in 1512, of which many engraved
copies were available.19
DK-G
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (ace. no.
W.42-1928). It has the same "G IV R" mark as the
Museum's table, but no number. A later, smaller ver-
sion of this table was sold at auction at Sotheby's,
New York, 12 October 1995, lot 224A.
Since the table in the Victoria and Albert Museum
has been published more often than the one in the
Metropolitan, most of the references that follow
pertain to the former: "Gifts to the Nation" 1928,
p. 192; National Art-Collections Fund 1929, p. 29,
no. 642; M. Harris and Sons 1935, p. 68; Victoria
and Albert Museum r947, p. 15, no. 24; and
Remington 1954, pp. 69, 119.
They were dated to about t793 in Fitz-Gerald 1969,
no. 11 ^a, b.
Remington 1929, pp. 296-98.
N. Goodison 1990.
Christie's, New York, 17 October 1981, lot 174.
This smaller table is now in the collection of the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art; Los Angeles County
Museum of Art 1983, n.p. It is marked "G IV R 55."
See H. Roberts 1996, pp. 169-70, fig. 252. One of
these larger tables, formerly at Gower House, is now
at the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London.
It was auctioned and sold at Christie's, London,
17 November 1994, lot 181.
Jervis 1982, pp. 174, 177. See also Beard and
J. Goodison 1987, p. 158.
This drawing was first mentioned in connection with
these tables in Jervis 1982, p. 177. See also Snodin
1996b, p. 203, no. 840 (entry by Stephen Astley et al.).
J. Harris 1973, n.p.; Young 1986; Young 1987,
p. 399; and H. Roberts 1996, pp. 166-67.
H. Roberts 1996, pp. 168-70, 173.
Ibid., pp. 170, 173; and H. Roberts 1997, p. 182.
Auction conducted by Mr. Phillips at Buckingham
Palace, London, 11 August 1836, lots 109, n o .
See also H. Roberts 1996, p. 168. It was originally
thought that the tables had been removed to the
Royal Pavilion in Brighton after the demolition of
Carlton House; Remington 1929, p. 296.
Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, 5 April
14
1895, ' o t I6o. The purchaser is recorded as "Davis,"
and the price was 267 pounds, 15 shillings. They
may have been among the artworks acquired earlier
by William's grandfather, John Julius Angerstein
(1735-1823), who was a wealthy merchant and
patron of rhe arts.
Madocks 1984. See also Banta 2004.
Pepper 1984, pp. 278-79.
Ibid., pp. 228-29.
The ceiling, painted in 1771 by the Italian artists
Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785) and Biagio
Rebecca (ca. 1735-1808), was later destroyed. See
J. Harris 1970, pp. 253-54, no. 145, pi. 90; and
Snodin 1996a, pp. 137-39, fig. 196.
19 Bernini Pezzini, Massari, and Prosperi Valenti
Rodino 1985, pp. 149-51.
77-
Mechanical table
French, 1780-81
Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806)
Oak veneered with mahogany and marquetry of
bois satiné, sycamore, holly, ebonized holly fillets,
and bayberry, the top with an amaranth border;
gilt-bronze mounts; velvet; mirror glass
H. 28'/i in. (72.4 cm), w. 30V4 in. (78.1 cm),
d. 19 in. (48.3 cm)
Painted on the underside: "No. 3066."
The Jules Bache Collection, 1949
49-7-117
This particular type of mechanical table, in
which the top slides back as the drawer slides
forward to reveal a toilette mirror flanked by
two compartments, each covered with a
hinged flap (fig. 109), was developed and per-
fected by Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763).
Jean-Henri Riesener was apprenticed to Oeben
and following Oeben's death took over the
direction of his workshop. Riesener contin-
ued to make a speciality of mechanical tables.
The number 3066 painted on the under-
side of the table identifies it in the royal
furniture archives, the Journal du Garde-
Meuble de la Couronne, as the one delivered
in January 1781 to Queen Marie Antoinette
(1755-1793) at Versailles: "Delivered by
Mr. Riesener. For the Cabinet Intérieur of
the queen at Versailles. 3066.—A writing
table with marquetry compartments of
mosaics and rosettes on a mahogany ground,
187
 The following year it was delivered to
the Château de Saint-Cloud for the queen's
use in her "dressing room: one writing table
. . . the mechanical top veneered with
mosaic panels, in the middle an oval medal-
lion with an allegorical trophy with this
motto: 'Numine afflatur,' the ground and all
the rest of the veneer of this table in ama-
ranth and bois satiné. . . ." 3 The contents of
Saint-Cloud were sold in the government
sales of 1794-95, following the Revolution,
but it is not known if this table was
included. Its whereabouts in the nineteenth
century are unknown, and it next comes to
light in the collection of the New York
banker Jules S. Bache, who bequeathed it to
the Metropolitan Museum in 1949.
The oval marquetry trophy on the top
(fig. n o ) seems intended to symbolize French
supremacy in the worlds of science, com-
merce, and learning. The motto Numine
afflatur (Inspired by divine light) on the pen-
nant pertains to Poetry. The Gallic cock is
perched on a laurel branch above an astro-
nomical globe, a caduceus (the emblem of
peace and commerce), an architect's rule
and compass, and a writer's inkstand and
books with the wreath and torch of fame.
Fig. 109. General view of the mechanical table with the drawer opened and the mirror raised. The flaps
of both side compartments are also opened. Riesener repeated a number of the deco-
rative details on other pieces of furniture.

composed of a large body of drawers with

mechanical springs making the drawers
advance and the top move back. The middle
of the top depicts a trophy with the attri-
butes of Poetry and Literature. The hinged
stand in the center rises with the touch of a
button and has a panel covered on one side
with black velvet framed with a small galloon
of gold. The gilt-bronze ornaments consist
of frames, capitals, stems of plants, friezes,
and four bas-reliefs of infants, all chased
and gilded with matt gold. . . ."'
Already in 1784 the table needed light
restoration by Riesener so that it could be
placed in the suite of Gustavus III, king of
Sweden (1746-1792), during his visit to
Versailles and the Trianon in June of that
year: "Order of 16 April. Delivered on 29
May to serve the king of Sweden, one
mechanical table with marquetry No. 3066.
Restore and renew the gilding and the mar-
quetry and furnish several missing pieces of
the pearls that decorate the corners and have
the mechanism cleaned and adjusted. . . ." 2 Fig. 110. Detail of the marquetry on the top of the mechanical table.
The marquetry lozenges of bois satiné bor-
dered by black and white fillets and contain-
ing sunflowers on a bois jaune ground are
found on several pieces made for Marie
Antoinette in the 1780s. 4 The gilt-bronze
plaque on the outside of the drawer was
used by Riesener on several other pieces of
furniture, most notably on the mother-of-
pearl cylinder-top desk made for Marie
Antoinette's boudoir at Fontainebleau. 5
WR
78.
Armchair (fauteuil à la reine)
French (Paris), ca. 1780-85
Georges Jacob (1739-1814)
Carved and gilded walnut; covered in embroi-
dered silk-satin
H. 40V4 in. (102.2 cm), w. 29V2 in. (74.9 cm),
d. 30VS in. (77.8 cm)
On the underside of the back seat rail are
stamped, painted, and stenciled, respectively:
"G+JACOB" and "279"; "de Pvre Paris
Chambre à Balus ..."; "B125" and the crowned
monogram "LPO." Incised on top of each seat
rail under the slip seat: "VIII." Inscribed on the
slip seat: "Chambre a balustre." Written on the
webbing is the crowned monogram "LPO."
Attached to the side of the slip seat is a sticker
inscribed in ink: "Ouvrard." Affixed under the left
seat rail is a modern sticker inscribed: "Duveen
Brothers 20-10-19."
Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958
2
58.75- 5
On 31 October 1947 Duveen Brothers sold
what the firm called "The Marie Antoinette
Set" for 180,000 dollars to Samuel H. Kress
(1863-1955). 1 It consisted of three embroi-
dered wall hangings and various pieces of
matched seat furniture that originally belonged
to two different eighteenth-century suites,
with the addition of several later pieces. 2
The wall hangings—chain-stitched embroi-
deries in silk on a white silk-satin ground—
show musical instruments, birds' nests,
baskets of flowers, and sun hats linked
together with swags of flowers. The present
armchair and an identical example, as well
as a pair of side chairs of the same design,
have eighteenth-century show covers that
were made to match these embroideries. In
order to give the group of seat furniture a
unified appearance, the remaining pieces
were upholstered with portions cut from
1. "Livré par le S. Riézener. Pour servir dans le Cabinet
Interieur de la Reine à Versailles. 3066.—Une table à
écrire de marqueterie à compartiment de mosaïques
et rosettes sur un fond satiné blanc composé d'un
grand corps de tiroirs à ressorts mécaniques faisant
avancer les tiroirs et reculer le dessus dont le milieu
represente un trophée et les attributs de la Poesie et
de la Littérature, un pupitre couvert de velours noir
encadré d'un petit galon d'or se lève en touchant un
bouton, les ornemens en bronze sont composés de
cadres, chapiteaux, tiges, frises et de 4 bas reliefs
d'enfans, le tout cizelé et doré d'or mat. . . ." Quoted
in Verlet 1963, p. 139, no. 19.
2. "Ordre du 16 avril. Livré le 29 may pour servir au
Roy de Suede une table mécanique de marqueterie
additional embroidered hangings that were
sacrificed for this purpose.
It is not entirely clear how such an illus-
trious provenance became attached to this
assembled lot. When the settee, which dates
to the nineteenth century, was published in
1927, nothing was said about its origin
except, erroneously, that the eighteenth-
century menuisier Georges Jacob had signed
it.3 In 1934, however, the author of a book
on French furniture stated that the set had
been made by Jacob for Marie Antoinette
(1755-1793), and described it as "one of
the most beautiful examples of the talent of
this master." 4 Furthermore, he declared that
the embroidery was the work of the queen
and her ladies and that Marie Antoinette
gave the entire set to Louis-Jean-Marie de
Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre (1725-1793). 5
Stamped by Georges Jacob, who sup-
plied much furniture to the court of Louis
XVI (1754-1793), this armchair and its
pair have straight, rectangular backs, which
characterize them as fauteuils à la reine.
When cutting the walnut frames, Jacob
must have carefully taken into considera-
tion the planned decoration, leaving enough
wood to allow the unidentified but obvi-
ously very skilled carver to execute the
designs. Particularly striking are the deeply
undercut garlands of myrtle branches spiral-
ing around a straight rod on the seat and
back rails (fig. 11 i).CD Trails of berried myrtle
branches are carved around the tapering
shafts of the cylindrical legs, which are
crowned by collars of laurel leaves and
berries.CD Laurel leaves are also repeated
on the front of the curving arm supports
N ° 3066. Rétably, remis à neuve la dorure et la mar-
quetrie et fourni plusieurs pieces qui manquoient aux
perles qui orne les angles et avoir netoyé et ajusté la
mécanique. . . ." Ibid.
3. "'Cabinet de toilette.' Une table à écrire . . . le dessus
méchanique plaqué à panneaux à mozaiques, le
milieu à médaillon ovale représentant un trophé allé-
gorique avec cette devise: 'Numine afflatur,' champs
et tout le reste du placage de la ditte table en bois
d'amaranthe et satiné. . . ." Ibid.
4. Pradère 1989, pp. 374~75, figs- 45*) 45 2 -
5. Watson 1960, p. 117, no. 68.
that terminate in acanthus-leaf volutes.CD A
molding of pearls and twisted-rope motifs
carved along the top of the seat rail gives a
rhythmical effect not unlike that created by
brass upholstery nails—here absent because
the chairs are covered à châssis. The original
slip seat and webbing have been preserved.CD
The back panel, edge roll, arm pads, and
comfortable down and feather seat cushion
are all covered in the original late-eighteenth-
century embroidered silk-satin. The back dis-
plays floral branches framed by scrolling
floral borders. The seat cushion shows a
basket of flowers within similar borders.
Certain motifs, such as the band of pearls
along the fore edge of the seat as well as
along the borders of the cushion and of the
back, clearly relate to the carving of the
wooden frame. The high quality of the once
very colorful chain-stitched embroidery clearly
identifies it as professional work rather than
as the fruit of the queen's pastime. The ele-
gant floral compositions are close to designs
by the famed silk manufacturer Philippe de
Lasalle (1723-1804/5).
From a series of marks, inscriptions, and
inventory numbers on the frames of both
armchairs a considerable amount of infor-
mation can be gleaned. 7 First of all, the
incised roman numerals VII and VIII indi-
cate that they were numbers seven and eight
of a suite that included both arm- and side
chairs, and possibly one or more settees. It
was not unusual for a chairmaker to iden-
tify the various elements, especially such
removable parts as slip seats and arm pads,
as belonging to a certain chair, to avoid
mixing them up.
189
 The French inscription "de P[enthiè]vre
Paris Chambre à Balus[tre]" (and a varia-
tion of this) is enlightening as well, showing
that the chairs were in the possession of the
wealthy duc de Penthièvre, grand admiral of
France and a cousin of Louis XVI. The
set furnished his Paris residence, the Hôtel
de Toulouse, an early-seventeenth-century
building on the rue de la Vrillière, near the
place des Victoires. By 1719 the architect
Robert de Cotte (1656-1735) had renovated
the mansion for the duc de Penthièvre's
father, the comte de Toulouse. The hôtel
had, according to a late-eighteenth-century
description, a chambre des balustres, or
room with balustrade on the ground
floor.9 Used only on special occasions, this
room was a chambre de parade, or cere-
monial bedchamber. A curving balustrade,
or estrade, seen in a plan by Jacques-
François Blondel (1705-1774), closed off a
bed alcove separating the state bed from the
rest of the room (fig. 112). IO To have such a
balustrade was a privilege, allowed only in
the state apartments of dukes, princes, and
Fig. 112. Ground plan of the Hôtel de Toulouse, Paris, in Jacques-François Blondel, Architecture
grands seigneurs.11 The formal nature of the française (Paris, 1752-56), vol. 3, chap. 7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of
Museum's armchairs as so-called fauteuils Mrs. Alexander McMillan Welch, 1946 (46.52.3.1-.4).

meublants, placed along the wall and con-

sidered to be part of the interior decoration,
reflects the official function of the room.
Given the various other French inscriptions
on the frames, it is possible that the chairs
were also used in a different part of the
house. It has been suggested that the entire
set was placed in the first-floor apartment of
the duke's widowed daughter-in-law, Marie-
Thérèse-Louise, princesse de Lamballe (1749-
1792), a friend of Marie Antoinette's. 12
After the duc de Penthièvre's death his
only surviving daughter, Louise-Marie-
Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre ( 1 7 5 3 -
1821), inherited his possessions. Married
to the liberal Louis-Philippe-Joseph, due
d'Orléans (1747-1793), who renounced
his title and became known as Philippe-
Egalité, she was widowed when he was
guillotined during the Reign of Terror in
1793. She was exiled from France, and her
property including the Hôtel de Penthièvre
(Toulouse) was confiscated in 1797. The
chairs may then have come into the posses-
sion of the banker Gabriel-Julien Ouvrard
(1770-1846), whose name is written on
stickers affixed to the slip seats. Having
Fig. i n . Detail of the right side of the armchair showing part of the seat rail, right arm support, edge amassed a huge fortune in war speculations,
roll, and cushion.

190
78
Ouvrard became purveyor to the French
navy in 1798. He apparently acquired sev-
eral of the confiscated estates of the Orléans
family that were, however, returned to them
in 1814. The "B125" marks on the chairs
probably refer to one of these properties,
perhaps the eighteenth-century Château de
Bizy, in Normandy, where the duc de
Penthièvre died and his daughter lived after
her return from exile.
An inventory of the Château de Bizy
described the Salon de Famille as furnished
with hangings of white silk-satin embroi-
dered with floral designs, and it listed a
large set of seat furniture in the same room
that was upholstered to match. This inven-
tory was drawn up shortly after 1830, when
the castle was in the possession of the son of
Philippe-Égalité, Louis-Philippe (1773-1850),
due d'Orléans, who became king of France in
1830. 13 The crowned, interlaced monogram
"LPO" on the chairs clearly refers to his
ownership, and he may have been responsi-
ble for uniting the two sets.CD It has been
said that Louis-Philippe left the assembled
seat furniture to his youngest daughter,
Marie-Clémentine (1817-1907), who lived
in Austria after her marriage to Prince
Augustus of Saxe-Coburg. 14 Some years
79-
Center table
Russian (Tula), ca. 1780-85
Steel, silver, gilded copper, gilded brass,
replaced mirror glass
H. 27V2 in. (69.9 cm), w. 22 in. (55.9 cm),
d. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
Branded beneath the top: P below a ducal
Pasted beneath the top is a paper label on which
is written in ink in Cyrillic abbreviation:
1674"
Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation
2002.115
From 1712, when the imperial armory in
the town of Tula, south of Moscow, was
founded by Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725),
the master armorers regularly enjoyed impe-
rial patronage. 1 During the reign of Empress
Elizabeth (1741-61), they began to produce
a sideline of cut-steel decorative items and
furniture now known as Tula ware. These
were richly and elaborately worked using
192
after her death, in September 1913, Duveen
Brothers, the well-known antiques dealer-
ship with branches in London, Paris, and
New York, acquired this set of furniture/ 5
DK-G
i. Duveen Brothers Records 1876-1981, Papers and
Correspondence, 1901-81, box 475, f. 5 (microfilm,
reel 330).
2. In 1958 the pieces were a gift of the Samuel H. Kress
Foundation to the Museum. They included two
armchairs (ace. nos. 58.75.25,26) and two matching
side chairs (58.75.33,34) all stamped by Georges
Jacob. There were also two similar armchairs
(58.75.30,31) and one small settee, or marquise
(58.75.27), also by Jacob but part of another set.
In addition, there were a settee (58.75.24), two
armchairs (58.75.29,32), and a second marquise
(58.75.28) executed at a later date to match the
design of accession numbers 58.75.27,30,31.
The wall hangings have the accession numbers
58.75.35-37. See Dauterman, Parker, and Standen
1964, pp. 61-75, n o s - 7-9•
3. Feulner 1927, p. 675, fig. 600. In this publication
the settee is said to be owned by Duveen Brothers.
4. "une des plus belles manifestations du talent
de ce maître"; Theunissen 1934, pp. 89-90,
pis. XXXIII, XXXIV. In this publication the set
Ís said to be property of Duveen.
5. Ibid., pp. 89-90. This provenance was supposedly
based on a mémoire of Princesse Marie-Clémentine,
daughter of King Louis-Philippe, who inherited the set
in the nineteenth century (see below).
6. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, pp. 70, 74,
no. 9.
many different techniques in addition to the
basswood; faceting that gives them their characteristic
diamond-like sparkle. Although in their shapes
Tula chairs, tables, and stools resemble tra-
ditional wooden furniture, they are chased,
crown.
blued, chiseled, gilded, pierced, and inlaid like
"No. parade weapons. They have come to embody
for the eighteenth century the Russian deco-
Gift 2002 rative arts, as Fabergé objects have for the
decades just before and after i9oo. z So greatly
admired was Tula ware in Western Europe that
around 1775 its steel-cut look was imitated in
silver and silver-gilt by Augsburg goldsmiths.3
In 1785 Empress Catherine the Great,
during whose reign (1762-96) the Tula fac-
tory flourished, sent two of the armory's
most experienced steelworkers to England
in order to hone their skills and broaden
their creative outlook and ideas; however,
English pattern books such as Thomas
7. The markings on the matching armchair are very
similar to those on the present example. Stamped on
the underside of the back seat rail are "G+JACOB"
twice and "279"; stenciled are "B125" and the
crowned monogram "LPO." Inscribed in ink on a
sticker pasted under the back seat rail is "Chambre à
Coucher." Incised on the top of each seat rail under
the slip seat is the roman numeral VII. Painted on the
back rail of the slip seat is "No 7 Chambre . . .
Balustre en haut," and pasted there is a sticker on
which is written in ink "Ouvrard." The webbing is
stenciled with the crowned monogram "LPO." There
is a torn Duveen Brothers sticker and another with
the number 265818 inscribed on it underneath the
left side seat rail.
8. Blondel 1752-56, vol. 3, chap. 7, p. 27; and Parker
i960,pp.296-301.
9. Thiéry 1787, vol. 1, col. 304.
io. Blondel 1752-56, vol. 3, chap. 7, pi. I.
11. Havard 1887-90, vol. 1, col. 234.
12. Dauterman, Parker, and Standen 1964, p. 66, no. 7a-d.
13. Excerpts from this inventory, which is deposited in
the Archives Nationales, Paris, are in the archives
of the Department of European Sculpture and
Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
14. Theunissen 1934, p. 89.
15. Duveen acquired a one-third share in the set. Duveen
Brothers Records 1876-1981, Business Records,
1876-1964, Paris Stock Book, no. 4, 1913-14, box
100, f. 49 (microfilm, reel 35). The set stayed with
Duveen until 1947 and is regularly listed in the
records. The Marie Antoinette provenance appeared
for the first time in 1935; Duveen Brothers Records
1876-1981, Business Records, 1876-1964, box 26,
f. 9 and f. 10 (microfilm, reel 11). I am grateful to
Charlotte Vignon, Annette Kade Art History Fellow,
2005-2006, Metropolitan Museum, for this information.
Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-
Maker's Director (1754) were already in cir-
culation among Russian cabinetmakers. 4
The most imaginative pieces of Tula furni-
ture—objects like the Museum's table—
were either delivered directly to Catherine
the Great or purchased by her and her fam-
ily or at the annual Sofia Spring Fair near
the palace of Tsarskoye Selo. Made in a
cooperative effort by designers and special-
ist craftsmen, such illustrious pieces were
seen as objets d'art and were intended for
display and not for daily use. So great was
Catherine's passion for these fabulous
objects that in 1775 she merged her Tula
ware collection of several hundred pieces
with some of the crown jewels and placed
them together in a special jewelry gallery at
the Winter Palace. 5 The empress loved the
reflection of light from the thousands of
 79
cut-steel facets that caught the rays of the
sun by day and the flickering light of can-
dles by night.
Catherine's son and successor, Paul I
(r. 1796-1801), who disliked his mother's
taste in many ways, did, to some extent at
least, share her love of Tula ware. As grand
duke, he and his second wife, Sophia-
Dorothea of Württemberg (1759-1828),
called in Russia Maria Feodorovna, ordered
"two chandeliers" and "a stool and several
other objects" between 14 May and 7 July
1786, from the Tula armorer Simeon
Samoelov (Samarin) for Pavlovsk Palace,
near Saint Petersburg.
When the Museum's table appeared at
auction in 2001, the sale catalogue correctly
identified the branded initial " P " as the
mark of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of
Oldenburg (r. 1785-1829); however, there
is one misconception in the catalogue—that
Duke Peter might have purchased the table
on one of "his visits to his Russian
cousins." 7 Tula ware of such high quality
was not offered for public sale; rather, such
furniture would have left Russia only as a
diplomatic gift or as part of an imperial
dowry or a present within the imperial fam-
ily. The Museum's table was most likely
acquired by Catherine the Great herself
about 1780-85. It is later recorded, together
with furniture by Henri Jacob (1753-1824)
and David Roentgen (1743-1807), in an
inventory of Pavlovsk Palace in 1801.
Among the furnishings in Maria Feo-
dorovna's bedroom is listed "a one-legged
table with four whale-feet supporting a rec-
tangular top, with steel diamonds and cut
silver." Next to this entry is an annotation
in another hand: "Given as a gift to the
duke of Golsteen [Holstein] by her Majesty,
the Empress." 9 This note contains a crucial
clue as to how the imperial table left Russia.
Duke Peter and his older brother, Wilhelm
August, were born princes of Holstein-
Gottorp. Their father's sister, Johanna
Elisabeth, was the mother of Catherine the
Great, who was born a princess of Anhalt-
193
Fig. 1 1 3 . Table, Russian (Tula), the sea, supported by golden whales, makes
ca. 1 7 8 0 - 8 5 . Steel, silver, gilded
this table a supreme masterpiece. " WK
copper, gilded brass, painted tin.
Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo.

I thank Mechthild Baumeister, Linda Borsch, Olga

Kostiuk, Marina Nudel, and Stuart Phyrr for their help
with this entry. I am most grateful to H.R.H. Dr. Philipp,
duke of Württemberg, for his advice. Special thanks are
also due to H.R.H. Christian, duke of Oldenburg, for
discussing rhe history of this table with me and for allow-
ing me to consult Oldenburg family documents at the
Staatsarchiv in Oldenburg.

Malchenko 1974, p. 5, figs. 5-7.

Zerbst, a family not particularly wealthy
but ancient and distinguished.
When Wilhelm was killed in an accident
at sea, Peter was next in line to rule the
dukedom of Oldenburg. The province had
been until recently part of the inheritance of
Grand Duke Paul. Following the wish of his
mother, Catherine, in 1773 Paul transferred
Oldenburg to the house of Holstein-
Gottorp in order to provide their "poor"
cousins "with a solid and suitable estate." 10
Nevertheless, the dukes of Oldenburg had
to acknowledge the feudal jurisdiction of
the Russian emperor, since he was in theory
the head of the state. 11 After the assassina-
tion of Paul on 23/24 March 1801, Duke
Peter traveled to Russia, doubtless to
pay homage to the new czar, Alexander I
(r. 1801-25), now head of the imperial fam-
ily. Peter stayed with Maria Feodorovna at
Pavlovsk Palace from 21 May until 26 June
1801. 1 1 Twenty years earlier he had married
Friederike von Württemberg, a sister of
Maria Feodorovna's. The marriage, a happy
one, was cut short when Friederike died
in 1785 after childbirth.' 3 In a letter to
his sister-in-law dated 23 November 1800,
the duke, who never remarried, wrote,
"Tomorrow it will be fifteen years since our
beloved Friederike left us. I know that your
Imperial Majesty will think of us." 1 4 It
seems safe to assume that the dowager
empress gave the Museum's table as a per-
sonal keepsake to her former brother-in-law
during his stay at Pavlovsk. The empress
had herself just become a widow and must
have felt gratitude and affection for Peter,
who had devoted himself to the upbringing
of his two sons, her nephews. ' s In this con-
nection, it is interesting to note that before
returning to Oldenburg Duke Peter bought
an extra wagon to transport home the
things he had acquired during his stay in
Saint Petersburg.'
The Museum's table belongs to a very
small group of Tula furniture embellished
with silver inlay, ornamental etching, and
gilded applications. It includes a dressing
li
table with chair in the pure Neoclassical
taste presented by the town of Tula to
Catherine the Great on the occasion of the
empress's visit in 1787. She gave it in 1788
to Maria Feodorovna, and it is still pre-
served in the public rooms at Pavlovsk
Palace.' 7 Closest in style to the Museum's
table is one in Catherine's bedroom at the
Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo; its stand
still reflects the influence of English Rococo
forms, but its top and decoration are Neo-
classical (fig. 113).' 8 Another example, with
a rectangular top and four tapering legs, is
in Pavlovsk.' 9 Two slightly earlier examples,
with round tops in the "Chippendale style,"
are in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint
Petersburg. 10 The table in the Metropolitan
is technically the most accomplished and
visually the most exciting example. The
astonishing disparity between the heavy and
recalcitrant materials and the light and airy
form that seems to float on the surface of
Other typically Russian national arts are stone cut-
ting, associated with the Imperial Glass and Lapidary
Works in Sainr Petersburg, and the walrus-ivory carv-
ing done at Arkhangelsk. On the latter, see "Recent
Acquisitions" 1998, p. 39 (entry by Marina Nudel).
A pair of silver candlesticks in the Tula taste by the
famous Biller family of Augsburg goldsmiths was
shown by the Galerie Neuse, Bremen, at the TEFAF
antiques fair, Maastricht, in 1998.
Malchenko 1974, pp. 14-16.
St. Petersburg Jewellers 2000, p. 8 (showcase at
lower left).
Archives, State Museum Pavlovsk, doc. A-20/4,
pp. 5-6 (for 1786), cited in Kuchumov 2004.
Catalogue of a sale at Christie's, London, 13
December 2001, p. 126, lot 500.
Archives, State Museum Pavlovsk, inventory of
Pavlovsk Palace, 1801, p. 32. See "Recent Acquisitions"
2002, p. 25 (entry by Wolfram Koeppe); Kuchumov
2004, pp. 139-40, n. 10 (in which the table is
mentioned); and Koeppe 2005.
Kuchumov 2004, p. 140, n. 10.
Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg, Best. 7, Urk. 1773,
Juli 19/30; see Hülle 1972, p. 45.
Following the protocol, the Annual Chronicle of
Oldenburg published during these years documents
all the public activities of the Russian imperial house-
hold before recording local events (reviewed by this
author at the Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg).
Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg, Best. 6D, no. 25.
Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg 1979,
PP- 34-37, nos. 15 16.
Hennes 1870 (1971 ed.), p. 524.
Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg 1979,
pp. 8-9.
A derailed estimate provided by the duke's adjutant
lists all the transport costs, including money "to
bribe the Danish customs" (Staatsarchiv, Oldenburg,
restricted Oldenburg family papers). Three pieces by
David Roentgen, all bearing the crowned P, were
most likely part of the gift; see catalogue of a sale at
Christie's, Schloss Anholt, 20-21 November 2001,
lots 570-72. One of them, an architect's table, is
today in a private collection in New York.
Alexeieva 1993, p. 92; and Krieg und Frieden 2001,
pp. 342-43, nos. 213-16 (entry by Olga Bashenowa).
The table is illustrated in color in Chenevière 1988,
p. 247, pi. 266.
Krieg und Frieden 2001, p. 343 (on the left).
Malchenko 1974, figs. 15, 16.
The table was restored in 2003 by Linda Borsch,
Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum. She replaced a thick gilded-
wood molding on the top with a beaded frame that
was adapted from an original eighteenth-century
piece in the Museum's gilt-bronze collection; see the
conservation report in the archives of the Depart-
ment of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts,
Metropolitan Museum.

194
8o.
Candlestand

English, ca. 1780-90

Carved and painted basswood; glass and gilt-
bronze mounts
H. 48 in. (121.9 cm), w. 18A in. (47 cm), d. 16 in.
(40.6 cm)
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
64.101. i058a,b

Before the introduction of the Argand oil

lamp in 1784 and of later technological
innovations such as gas and electric lighting,
the artificial illumination of the domestic
interior depended largely on candles, made
either of rendered animal fat (tallow) or of
less smoky and better-smelling beeswax. 1
Given the high cost especially of the wax
kind, few candles were used on a daily
basis, and once daylight faded the houses
were dimly lit. Only at formal entertain-
ments, such as important dinners and balls,
would multiple candles—placed in magnifi-
cent chandeliers and girandoles—burn in
the reception rooms. In addition to these
hanging or mounted sources of light, cande-
labra and candlesticks would be brought in
to brighten these rooms, especially in areas
that would otherwise remain dark. They
might be arranged on tables and mantel-
pieces and were often placed on tall movable
candlestands with flat tops, also known as
torchères. During the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury, English pattern books included pic-
tures of elaborately carved candlestands of
spirited Rococo design,2" which were super-
seded by others in a more restrained Neo-
classical style, such as this elegant example,
one of a pair from the Irwin Untermyer col-
lection. 3 With their delightful design and
light painted colors, these torchères stood out
amid the somber furnishings of the large Oak
Room in Judge Untermyer's Fifth Avenue
apartment.

Unfortunately, nothing is known about

either the maker or the origin of these can-
dlestands. Made of soft basswood, which
has a fine texture and even grain very suit-
able for carving and staining, the torchères
have kept their eighteenth-century color
scheme of pale gray and light blue, which
must have been in harmony with the decor
of the interior they were originally commis-
sioned for. Three dolphins descend upon a
triangular base, carved with an adaptation

195

AVAYPHAiOC- OYHPOC-KAICAP
lij.,
AMHICAPHZTO
EYNHEKCEKA
1
OYlBOYAAlONin
E/AENHOIEinO
TTAPXONMAPAexl
QEINHePE+AME
NOIITYMBOY (NlONTONEnnNY '
TOYAEOANOYZ MONTHS TTOAEfiX
EAAXEN
Fig. 114. The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates,
Revett, The Antiquities of Athens, n e w ed., vol. 1 ( L o n d o n , 1825).
of the Vitruvian scroll, which is resting on
three fluted, bun-shaped feet. The uplifted
tails of the scaly dolphins are lightheartedly
twisted and rest against the banded and
fluted column that forms the main upright
of the stands.CD Unlike most torchères, these
stands have candleholders on top, inside
glass shades that are an intrinsic part of
their design. 4 Three rams' heads holding
drapery festoons are carved at the corners
of a triangular platform that surmounts the
shaft.CD The shape of these pendant swags is
playfully echoed above, in the shape of the
gilt-bronze husk festoons hung from rams'
heads on the glass globe and also in the
chains that are suspended between the
griffins above the shade. 5
Dolphins were a popular decorative motif
in mid-eighteenth-century English designs of
many kinds, including furniture. Particularly
notable examples are the 1758 design for a
candlestand by Thomas Johnson (1714-
ca. 1778) and the set of four torchères with
196
and the rams' heads with the pendant swags
also reveals the influence of Robert Adam
(1728-1792), the prominent architect and
designer whose sophisticated and elegant
style dominated the English arts during the
1770S and 1780s.
Since one side of each base has been left
uncarved, these torchères were clearly
meant to stand in a niche or to be placed
against the wall, probably on triangular
bases. Eliminating drafts and protecting
passersby from smoke and the wooden
stands, which are difficult to clean, from
falling wax, the glass shades were both
practical and also beautiful when the light
was reflected in their shimmering surfaces.
Unlike the constant glare of electric light,
the dancing flames of candles and the shad-
ows they created must have emphasized—
perhaps even exaggerated—the bold carvings
of these candlestands and brought the dol-
phins, albeit temporarily, to life. DK-G
For the history of lighting, see Laing 1982; Bourne
and Brett 1991; and Country House Lighting 1992.
Ince and Mayhew 1759-62 (i960 ed.), pis. LXVII-
LXLX; Chippendale 1762, pis. CXLIV-CXLVII; and
Hayward 1964, pis. 13-15.
Hackenbroch 1958a, p. 43, pi. 175, fig. 211; and
detail of plate XXII in James Stuart a n d N i c h o l a s Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977, p. 99, no. 180
(entry by William Rieder). The accession number of
the pair to this candlestand is 64.101.1059a,b.
One design by Thomas Chippendale for candlestands
was "intended for a Glass Globe, fixed at the Bottom
in a Piece of Ornament"; Chippendale 1762,
pi. CXLVII.
two dolphins entwined around their central Similar glass globes, but without the griffins or the
chains, resting on a tripod base, are placed on can-
support, from Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, dlestands in the saloon of Culzean Castle, Ayreshire,
that are based on it. A simplified design Scotland; Leatmont and Riddle 1985, p. 17.
was included in the third edition of The Both the design and one of the candlestands based on
it are illustrated in Wilk 1996, pp. 110-11 (entry by
Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director by
Catherine S. Hay).
Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779), pub- Chippendale 1762, pi. CXLV.
lished in 1762. 7 The architect James Stuart Stuart and Revett 1825, vol. 1, pi. XXII. The conjec-
tural tripod is known to have inspired a number
(1713-1788), an early proponent of the
of perfume burners executed in gilded bronze;
Greek Revival style, further propagated the N. Goodison 1972, pp. 695-704, figs. 56, 64, 65,
use of the motif through his influential four- 75. The monument is also thought to have inspired
Robert Adam's design for a state bed for Robert
volume publication, The Antiquities of Athens,
Child at Osterley Park, Middlesex; Tomlin 1982,
with measured drawings by Nicholas Revett pp. 62-64, n o - HJi.
(1720-1804). The Choragic Monument of
Lysicrates was illustrated in the first volume
of 1762 with a reconstruction of its top that
included dolphins supporting a tripod stand
(fig. 114). It is possible that the unknown
maker of the Museum's candlestands was
familiar not only with Johnson's over-
wrought work but also with Chippendale's
and with Stuart and Revett's publications.
The use of such classically inspired ornaments
as the Vitruvian scroll, the husk festoons,
8i.
Console table

Italian, 1782-92
Attributed to Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo
(1745-1820); ornament designs after
Michelangelo Pergolesi (d. 1801)
Carved, painted, and gilded poplar wood;
marble top
H. 36V2 in. (92.7 cm), w. 57 in. (144.8 cm),
d. 25'A in. (64.8 cm)
Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1970
1970.4

This elaborate and finely carved console

table with pierced legs has occasioned more
debate among furniture experts as to the
maker and origin than any other piece of
Italian furniture in the Museum. The most
convincing attribution remains that to the
Piedmontese sculptor Giuseppe Maria
Bonzanigo, who was appointed in 1787 by
Vittorio Amadeo III, duke of Savoy and
king of Sardinia (1726-1796), an official Fig. 115. Detail of the left front 1 ; and frieze of the console table.

197
wood-carver to the crown. For the royal
palaces he made a large quantity of furni-
ture that is notable for the great refinement
and delicacy of its design and the extraordi-
nary quality of its carving. His furniture is
found chiefly in the Palazzo Reale in Turin
and at Stupinigi, the royal hunting lodge
just outside the city. Bonzanigo used cameo
medallions in a pair of tables at Stupinigi
similar to the octagonal panels above the
legs on the present table, which simulate
cameos carved in relief with figures from
classical mythology against a pale blue
background. One of the panels on this table
depicting Leda and the Swan derives from a
1782 engraving by Michelangelo Pergolesi,
the leading Italian master of Neoclassical
ornament (fig. 115).
The delicately carved, pierced legs are the
tour de force of the table. Their capitals have
panels depicting mythological animals. At
the top of the beautifully intertwined corners
of the legs are carved oak leaves, flowers, and
foliage with chains of pendant bellflowers.CD
Other suggestions as to the origin of the
table are Rome, Naples, and Palermo. In
1913 Seymour de Ricci published it as a
console in the style of Giovanni Battista
Piranesi (1720-1778), which it most cer-
tainly is not, having nothing in common
with Piranesi's documented furniture or his
designs for furniture in the Diverse maniere
d'adornare i cammini, his volume of etch-
ings devoted to furniture, clocks, and chim-
neypieces.' Several Italian experts have
verbally suggested that the table was made
in Naples or Palermo. WR
I . Ricci 1 9 1 3 , p . 6 9 .

82,83.

Commode and secretary (secrétaire à abattamt or secrétaire en armoire)

French, 1783 front section featuring a distinctive trape- The extraordinary quality of the gilt-
Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) zoidal panel.CD The piece has two principal bronze mounts has been much discussed in
Oak veneered with ebony and Japanese lacquer;
drawers and a frieze divided into three shal- the considerable literature on these pieces.
the interiors veneered with tulipwood, amaranth,
holly, and ebonized holly; gilt-bronze mounts;
low drawers. Laurel garlands of gilded As ébéniste du roi (furniture maker to the
replaced velvet; marble tops bronze are draped across the front. For the en king), with private accommodations at the
Commode: h. 36V4 in. (93.4 cm), w. 56V1 in. suite secretary, Riesener essentially repeated Arsenal in Paris, Riesener was exempt from
(143.5 cm). d- 23V1 in. (59.7 cm); secretary: the commode design for the upper part and the guild regulations that prohibited ébénistes
h. 57 in. (144.8 cm), w. 43 in. (109.2 cm),
added below a cabinet with two doors and a from casting or chasing their own mounts.
d. 16 in. (40.6 cm)
raised, central, rectangular breakfront sec- He employed his own bronze workers,
Both stamped on the back with the crowned
monogram "MA" within the legend "GARDE tion, framed with the same gilded bronze as among the most notable of whom was the
MEUBLE DE LA REINE." Both stenciled under the trapezoidal panel above. gilder François Rémond (1747-1812).
the marble top with the inventory mark of the Marie Antoinette was so pleased with Riesener delivered the commode and
Château de Saint-Cloud and "No. 53."
the commode and secretary that she asked secretary, together with the third piece in
Bequest of William K. Vanderbilt, 1920
20.155.12,11 Riesener to make another pair, this time the set, a corner cupboard (encoignure), to
veneered with pictorial and trellis mar- Versailles on 30 August 1783, when they
quetry. Extensively altered in 1 7 9 0 - 9 1 , were all duly recorded in the royal furniture
Often described as the most famous pieces these later pieces are now in the Frick inventory and branded on the back with
of eighteenth-century French furniture out- Collection in New York.' Marie Antoinette's mark (see fig. 116). They
side France, this commode and secretary are
among the truly great objects made by the
cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener.' They
were part of a suite of three pieces commis-
sioned in 1783 by Queen Marie Antoinette
(1755-1793) for her Cabinet Intérieur at
Versailles. They are veneered with the
queen's prized seventeenth-century Japanese
lacquer, which in this case must have been
cut from large screens or a Japanese cabinet
of about 1660-80. 1
The basic form of the commode was one
that Riesener had been making for at least
Fig. 116. Stamped on the back of the
seven years: a rectangular body with in-
commode is the crowned monogram
curved, splayed ends, canted forecorners, "MA" within the legend "GARDE
and a front with a central, projecting break- MEUBLE DE LA REINE."

198
82

Fig. 117. Detail of the gilt-bronze mounts on

the frieze of the secretary. Luxuriant floral
sprays encircle the initials of Marie Antoinette.
The same initials may be seen on the drawer of
the commode (above).

199
°3
 Fig. i i 8 . General view of the secretary with the cabinet d o o r s opened and the fall front lowered. T h e s t r o n g b o x
c o m p a r t m e n t is visible on the right side of the cabinet.
remained at Versailles only three years, after
which they were moved briefly to the
Trianon, where the encoignure became sepa-
rated. In 1787 the commode and secretary
were moved again, to the queen's favorite
château, the Château de Saint-Cloud, where
they were stenciled on the top of the carcase
with the inventory mark of Saint-Cloud
("S.C." beneath a crown) and the number
53 and placed in her Cabinet Intérieur.CD
The two pieces remained at Saint-Cloud
until 1793, when they were set aside from
the Revolutionary sales and reserved for the
Louvre, where, however, they appear never
to have gone. In 1795 they were chosen by
the leading contractor of supplies for the
army of the Rhine and Moselle, Abraham
Alean, as partial payment for his services
during the Revolution.
The commode and secretary were next
recorded in the collection of George Watson
Taylor (1770-1841) at his country house,
Erlestoke Park, in Wiltshire. At the Erle-
stoke sale in 1832 they were bought by the
London cabinetmaker and agent Robert
Hume (active 1808-40), bidding for the
duke of Hamilton.
They remained at Hamilton Palace, in
South Lanarkshire, Scotland, until 1882,
when in the famous Hamilton Palace sale of
that year they were sold to Mrs. William K.
Vanderbilt of New York for the house she
was building on Fifth Avenue. Following
her husband's death in 1920, they were
bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum.
WR
1. This entry is based on Rieder 2002, which summa-
rizes the history and bibliography of these pieces.
See also Baulez 2001, pp. 32-33, figs. 5, 6.
2. The lacquer has been extensively studied in Impey
and Kisluk-Grosheide 1994.
3. Dell 1992b, pp. 7 i - 9 t .
20I
84.
Side chair (chaise à la reine)
French (Paris), 1784
Georges Jacob (1739-1814); carving by Jules-Hugues
Rousseau (1743-1806) and Jean-Siméon Rousseau
de la Rottière (1747-1820); gilding by Fresie
Carved and gilded walnut; covered in silk-moiré
damask not original to the chair
H. 34 in. (86.4 cm), w. i8'/i in. (47 cm), d. 18 in.
(45.7 cm)
Painted inside the seat rail: "26A."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977
1977.102.13
In his 1966 study of the furniture in the
Wrightsmans' collection Francis Watson said
that the exceptional quality of the carving
and the use of two-toned gilding on this
chair and its pair, also in the Museum, sug-
gested the work of a major craftsman, such as
the talented menuisier Georges Jacob; he
added that the chairs probably formed part of
an important commission as well.' AH these
suggestions were proven to be true when
records were discovered showing that the
chairs had been ordered in 1784 for the use of
Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) in her
boudoir at the Chateau des Tuileries.2 These
records from the Garde-Meuble de la Reine,
the bureau under the direction of Bonnefoy
Duplan that commissioned furnishings for the
private apartments of the queen, offer interest-
ing information about the work done by the
artists and craftsmen involved in the project.
Jacob, the first in a three-generation
dynasty of well-known chairmakers, and
later also cabinetmakers, became a master
in 1765. Soon he had a fashionable clientele
and was busy supplying seating furniture to
a number of the royal palaces. 3 He charged
sixty-four livres for this pair.4 They were
described as "two side chairs of a new shape
made of walnut."' The "new shape" may
refer to the horseshoe- or balloon-shaped
seat, a feature that Jacob was to repeat for
side chairs of other important sets, or, pos-
sibly, to the arched top rails of the rectangu-
lar backs, or to both.
Once the basic framework was finished,
the chairs were carved by the brothers
Rousseau—Jules-Hugues and Jean-Siméon,
who called himself de la Rottière, to distin-
guish himself from his older sibling.7 In the
Rousseaus' 1784 mémoire (memorandum)
the chairs can easily be recognized, given the
very detailed description of their work done
on the different parts, sometimes with a kind
of justification for the sums charged. For the
columnar back stiles, for instance, which con-
sist of bundles of thirty-two rods each, tied
with crossed ribbons, the Rousseau brothers
charged nine livres per upright, explaining
that it was very difficult to align the rods. Of
the unusual finials surmounting the back
stiles they said, "the two small balloons on
top covered with their strings [are] carefully
detailed" (fig. 119).9 The finials cost six livres
each. The seat rail, according to the account,
was carved to show five rods tied together
in a bundle with myrtle branches that were
"very precisely rendered" (très précieusement
faits). Given the challenge to the artists of
carving the rods with regularity, especially
where they appear from underneath the
branches, the work was assessed at eight
livres per pied,'° which added up to thirty-
two livres for the seat rails of each chair. The
account also specified the different decora-
tions on the legs, which are shaped like fluted
quivers, embellished with floral swags, and
filled with arrows, of which only the feath-
Fig. 119. Detail of the left side of the chair back,
ered ends are showing. 0 The Rousseaus
showing the balloon-shaped finial.
charged the total sum of 141 livres and 17
sols for each chair."
The side chairs were next prepared for
gilding, which involved many steps, including
washing the wood and applying numerous
coats of whiting. This was followed by the so-
called reparure, the refreshment of the carved
elements lost under the preparatory layers of
whiting and the addition of extra details to
the decoration. This work and the actual gild-
ing afterward were done by Presle, "painter
and gilder to the king," whose shop was on
the rue Poissonnière in Paris.' 1 Given the rich-
ness and the perfection of the work, according
to the account, Presle charged 210 livres for
each chair. Interestingly enough, the mémoire
does not specify the use of two-toned gilding,
only mentioning "d'or jaune bruni avec la plus
grand soin" (yellow gold burnished with the
greatest care). Certain details of the carving,
such as the myrtle branches on the seat rails,
for instance, show an unmistakenly green hue.
This was not produced by a different gold, Fig. 120. À l'Honneur de Messieurs Charles et
Robert, etching and engraving, published by Le
according to descriptions given by Jean-Félix
Noir, Paris, ca. 1783. Gimbel Collection, U. S. Air
Watin in his popular manual L'art du peintre, Force Academy Library, Colorado (1128).
84

203
doreur, vernisseur (1773), but by a different
colored ground underneath the gold.'3 Whereas
for ordinary gilding (d'or jaune) the gold
should be applied over a yellow coating made
of whiting mixed with finely ground ocher,
for greenish gold (d'or vert) a layer of whit-
ing mixed with some Prussian blue should
be applied.
It is unfortunately not known how the
chairs were originally upholstered. A bill
from the silk painter Jacques-Claude Cardin
(b. ca. 1721) for various designs that he
made for the queen's private apartment at
the Tuileries in 1784 indicates that the
chairs were intended to have show covers
embroidered to match the brocaded fabric
in the boudoir.' 4
Historic events are rarely commemo-
rated in the decoration of furniture, but the
small balloon finials of these chairs clearly
celebrate the successful aeronautic experi-
ments of 1783, which caused much popular
excitement and stirred great interest in the
science of aviation.' 5 The Montgolfier
brothers, Joseph-Michel (1740-1810) and
Jacques-Etienne (1745-1799), released a
hot-air balloon on 5 June 1783 from the
town square in Annonay, near Lyons. On
19 September 1783 they launched another
balloon, carrying a sheep, a duck, and a
rooster, from the park of Versailles before a
large audience that included Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette. Other experiments quickly
85.
Secretary (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en armoire)
French, 1786-87
Guillaume Benneman (active 1785-92; d. 1811);
bronze ornaments possibly by Gilles-François
Martin (ca. 1713-1795); gilt-bronze mounts
modeled by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809)
and others; mercury gilding by Galle
Oak veneered with partly stained kingwood, ebony,
rosewood, holly, and mahogany; gilt-bronze mounts;
brèche d'Alep marble top not original to the secre-
tary; the writing surface lined with leather not origi-
nal to the secretary
H. 63V2 in. (161.3 cm), w. 32 in. (81.3 cm),
d. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
Stamped vertically on the upper part of the back,
at left: "G. BENEMAN." Painted in black on the
upper center of the back and again, larger, below:
"No. 13."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1971
1971.206.17
204
followed, such as the release of a hydrogen
balloon by the French physicist Jacques-
Alexandre-César Charles (1746-1823) from
the Champ de Mars in Paris on 27 August
1783. Later that same year, on 1 December,
Charles himself manned the gondola of a
hydrogen balloon together with Marie-Noël
Robert, who had assisted in its design and
construction. They had a successful takeoff
from the Tuileries gardens. The netting
draped over the upper half of the chairs'
balloon-shaped finials characterize them as
hydrogen rather than hot-air balloons, and
it is likely that Charles and Robert's suc-
cessful ascension from the Tuileries park,
illustrated in contemporary prints, served
as the inspiration for the finials (fig. 120).
Little is known about the later history of
these exceptional side chairs, only that they
were for a time in the collection of Baroness
Renée de Becker in New York. Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Wrightsman, also of New York,
acquired them in 1958 and gave them to the
Museum in 1977. DK-G
1. Watson 1966a, p. 50, no. 36A, B. The accession
number of the matching side chair is 1977.102.14.
Painted inside the seat rail is "26B."
2. This provenance was first published in Baulez and
D. Ledoux-Lebard 1981, p. 20, fig. 23. The memo-
randum is Archives Narionales, Paris, O 1 3629,
dossier 4, 1784.
3. Information about Georges Jacob is given in Pallot
I993> PP- 194-96-
4. It is difficult to estimate what 64 livres would be
This desk entered the Museum's furniture
collection in 1971, one of many gifts that
reflect the great generosity of Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Wrightsman toward the Metro-
politan Museum. Its beauty and workman-
ship are outstanding, and its provenance is
extraordinary. A receipt dated 25 May 1787
indicates it was placed for Louis XVI's use
in the Cabinet Intérieur at the Palais de
Compiègne.' Through a contradictory twist
of fate, it was confiscated after the Revolu-
tion and used by the directors of the first
formally constituted French republic at the
Palais du Luxembourg in Paris—despite the
fact that it was a relic of Bourbon ostenta-
tion. 2 During the first Empire it was sent to
worth today. To get a sense of the cost of these
chairs, it is helpful to know that in France between
1726 and 1790 the laboring poor would earn
berween 100 and 300 livres a year, and a skilled
worker berween 300 and 1,000 livres. This and other
figures are given in Sargentson 1996, p. xi.
5. "deux chaises de forme nouvelle; faites en bois de
noyer"; Archives Nationales, Paris, O 3629, dossier 4,
1784. Quoted in Lefuel 1923, p. 155.
6. Several relared side chairs with horseshoe-shaped seats
by Jacob of about 1785 are known. Four are in the
Jones Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London; P. Thornton t972, pp. 173-74, fig. 20.
Another, different, one was sold in Paris; catalogue of
the Comte de Greffulhe collection sale, Binoche, Hôtel
Drouot, Paris, 6 March 2000, lot 115. A set of furniture
supplied by Jacob in 1787 for Marie Antoinette's bed-
chamber at the Petit Trianon, Versailles, also included
similar side chairs; see Meyer 2002, pp. 274-81, no. 71.
7. Their father, Jules-Antoine Rousseau (1710-1782),
was responsible for decorative carving in the interiors
of many French palaces. See Brière 1924; and Bénézit
t999, vol. t2, p. 32.
8. Archives Nationales, Paris, O l 3629, dossier 4, 1784.
9. "les 2 petits ballons au dessus et couverrs de leurs
filets très soigneusement détaillés"; ibid.
10. A pied is an old French lengrh measurement of about
12-V4 inches (32.4 cm); Havard 1887-90, vol. 4,
cols. 304-5, 621.
11. Twenty sols make one livre.
12. Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3629, dossier 4, 1784.
13. Watin 1828, pp. 215, 221-22.
14. "Avoir fait des desseins d'après les étoffes broché du
périt boudoir pour les deux chaises en dessiné sur les
différentes parties des dittes chaises pour être brodé
pour ce valué a . . . 18 livres"; Archives Nationales,
Paris O 3631, semester 2, 1784. Cardin became a
master painter and member of the Académie de Saint
Luc in 1761, and he did much work for the French
court; see Coural 1972.1 am grareful to Christian
Baulez for this reference.
15. Balloon 1983, pp. 15, 74.
the Hôtel d'Elbeuf for the use of Archchan-
cellor Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
(1753-1824), to whom Napoleon gave it in
1808.' It was recorded in the duke's collec-
tion in 1824 and was subsequently owned
by Henri de Rothschild, by Edith Chester
Beatty in London, and by Guedes de Souza
in Lisbon.4
One of the few precisely documented
pieces of Parisian furniture made for the
court in the 1780s, the desk exemplifies the
extreme luxury and lavish expenditure that
characterized the ancien régime just before
the furious" class upheaval that brought it
down. In regard to the commissioning and
delivery of royal furniture under Louis XVI,
85

205
Fig. 1 2 1 . General view of
the secretary with the fall
front lowered.
the secretary is also an excellent example. It
was made by one of the great Parisian
ébénistes, in this case, Guillaume Benneman,5
who in 1785 succeeded Jean-Henri Riesener
(1734-1806) as royal cabinetmaker, working
in collaboration with a team of artisans, all
under the direction of Jean Hauré (active
1774-96), who supervised the making of
furniture for the crown. (Benneman, who
was born and trained in Germany, moved to
Paris and received his first royal commission
in 1784.) Hauré ordered the secretary and
two other pieces, a commode en console and
a bureau plat, to complement a commode
that had been delivered to Versailles by
Gilles Joubert (1689-1775) in 1770-71 and
that was restored in 1786. These case pieces
and an additional suite of seat furniture'
were all intended for the king's use. For the
Museum's piece Benneman assembled the
mounts, which had been modeled by Louis-
Simon Boizot and two other sculptors, one
named Martin (possibly Gilles-François
Martin) and the other named Michaud. The
bronze worker Forestier (probably Etienne-
Jean Forestier or his brother Pierre-Auguste)
206
results in a shift of attention toward the
woodwork and clearly distorts the original
appearance of the desk. The marquetry
technique alone commands highest respect,
however, and reflects the considerable abili-
ties of the Benneman workshop. The verti-
cal, curving, dark kingwood lines were cut
out with a shoulder knife from large pieces
of veneer with such a precision that the final
result is a true masterwork. 8 CD This kind of
desk, called secrétaire à abattant, derived
from a portable writing cabinet with a fall
front. When the cabinet stood open, the lat-
ter would serve as the writing surface, and
when closed, it would conceal the interior
drawers and other storage compartments.
The type seen here (secrétaire en armoire),
with a lower cabinet closed by doors and an
upper cabinet with a fall front, was fully
developed by the second half of the six-
teenth century (fig. 121).CD Many examples
are virtuoso show pieces with sculptural
corner figures of highly expressive design.'
Such lavish, flamboyant furniture main-
tained the glory of the French crown and
the country's hegemony in the production of
luxury goods. In 1780 Louis-Sébastien
Mercier noted that in France in the decade
just past, "six hundred mansions were built
that in the inside looked like a fairyland;
because [human] imagination does not go
beyond a luxury so exquisite." 10 Their own-
was paid for the cast, and either Etienne-
ers lavished more attention and money on
Jean Thomire or Pierre-Philippe Thomire
the furniture than on any other aspect of the
(1751-1843) as well as Bardin, Tournay, and
interior decor. Louis XVI's furniture com-
others, were paid for the chiseling. Galle did
missions were intended to demonstrate the
the mercury gilding. Even the small gilded
sound state of the exchequer and to con-
rosettes that formerly decorated the "eyes" of
vince the rest of Europe of France's financial
the stylized trellis-formed marquetry, cover-
stability; however, in the face of a rapidly
ing the colorfully contrasting inlay like a net
growing public debt, swollen by wars and
with golden knots, are mentioned (petites
an inadequate tax system, the king's advisers
rosaces en cuivre doré)SD The original mar-
were in the end unable to ward off financial
ble top was supplied by Jean-Pierre Lanfant
disaster and political revolution. It is aston-
(who became a master in 1785), but it has
ishing that this situation should have initi-
since been replaced. 7
ated the commissioning of some of the finest
In comparison with the bold, stylish
furniture ever made, including this secretary
mounts, of which the superb classicizing
by Benneman, one of the most prolific and
caryatids are masterfully conceived stat-
original of French cabinetmakers.
uettes in their own right, the delicate trellis
marquetry of intertwined hearts and WK
lozenges seems rather old-fashioned. The
king's desire to economize by "updating"
older pieces of furniture and commissioning 1. According ro a nore in the archives of rhe Deparrment
of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metro-
matching items led to this development. politan Museum, an inventory label with the mark
Nevertheless, the cabinetry and especially "CP," for the Palais de Compiègne, was artached
to this piece until 1953.
the mounts are some of the best that
2. Augarde 1989, p. 145, fig. 4, and pp. 146-47.
Parisian artisans ever invented. The unfor-
3. Christian Baulez, Conservateur at the Château de
tunate loss of the small gilded rosettes Versailles, to James Parker, 29 June 1984, in the
 archives of the Department of European Sculpture
and Decorative Arts.
4. Verlet 1963, pp. 155-57, colorpl. Ill; Watson 1966a,
pp. 195-201, no. 107; and Metropolitan Museum of
Art 1975, p. 258 (entry by Penelope Hunter-Stiebel).
5. Pradère 1989, pp. 404-11.
6. Meyer 2002, pp. 1 5 8 - 6 3 ^ 0 . 4 1 .
Watson 1966a, pp. 195-201, no. 107. Hauré's
detailed account of the work done on the piece by
each craftsman is given in Watson 1966a, p. 198.
Chastang 2001, no. 6, fig. 34. I thank Yannick
Chastang for bringing this detail to my attention dur-
ing an examination of the secretary in the company
of Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator, Department
of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum, in
March 2004. The pinholes in the rosettes are filled
with ebony; this and the lack of any denting in these
areas testify to an extensive reworking of the surface.
9. Koeppe 1994a.
10. Mercier 1780, vol. 1, pp. 283-84, vol. 4, p. 121,
quoted in translation in Stürmer 1979a, p. 497.

86,87,88.

Day bed (lit de repos or sultane), armchair (bergère), and fire screen (écran)

French (Paris), 1788 After Louis XVI (1754-1793) bought the queen, who planned to spend the summers
Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sene (1748-1803); Chateau de Saint-Cloud from the due there with her children.' Much of this furni-
painting and gilding by Louis-François Chatard
d'Orléans, on 19 February 1785, it was pro- ture was ordered from Jean-Baptiste-Claude
(ca. 1749-1819)
Carved, painted, and gilded walnut; daybed and
visionally furnished so that Marie Antoinette Sene, member of an important dynasty of
armchair covered in modern silk-satin damask, (in whose name the king purchased it) could Parisian chairmakers of that name, who
fire screen covered in modern silk-satin weave stay there during the month of September became a maître menuisier in 1769 and was
Daybed; h. 36V2 in. (92.7 cm), w. 69 in. (175.3 that same year. Being in need of renovation, appointed chairmaker to the crown in 1784. 1
cm), d. 31'A in. (80 cm); armchair: h. 39 in. (99.1
the seventeenth-century palace was subse- A mémoire by Sene of 1788 describes the
cm), w. 27 V4 in. (69.2 cm), d. 25% in. (64.1 cm);
fire screen: h. 44'A in. (112.4 cm
)> w- 27V4 in.
quently altered and enlarged by the architect daybed, fire screen, and bergère (a comfort-
(70.5 cm), d. (base) 17 in. (43.2 cm) Richard Mique (1728-1794), and appropri- able armchair upholstered between the arms
Gift of Ann Payne Blumenthal, 1941 ate furnishings were commissioned for the and the seat), together with four matching
41.205.1-30,!}

86
87
armchairs (fauteuils) and a tabouret (stool)
that were intended for the queen's Cabinet
Particulier, one of the rooms in her private
apartment at Saint-Cloud.'
The daybed, referred to in Sené's account
as "une sultane," meaning a low settee
without a back, is described in great detail,
which permits easy identification because of
its carved ornament. 4 The curving front rail
is embellished with ivy; the feet carry Ionic
capitals; the isolated columns at the back
are surmounted by Doric capitals; the frieze
running along the top at either end has sun
motifs and flowers; and there are garlands
of roses along the crest rails.CD Interesting
208
are the female half figures with Egyptian
headdresses carved on tapering supports
that are decorated with interlaced myrtle
branches. CD Sene simply calls them cary-
atids, without making a specific reference
to their exotic headgear. He charged 700
livres for this daybed.
The bergère was decorated in a similar
manner and has a medallion with Marie
Antoinette's initials flanked by rose branches
on its top rail.CD Sene charged 270 livres for
this chair. The fire screen differs somewhat
in that it does not have Egyptian caryatids
but instead seated female figures on the feet
and a reclining woman, originally holding a
cornucopia, on top.CD The work on the screen
amounted to 400 livres. In addition, 72
livres was charged for the fabrication of
two, not further specified, wax models, pre-
sumably for the furniture, probably the
work of a sculptor.5
Although Sené's name is the only one on
the account, he was most certainly not
responsible for the elaborate decoration.
This must have been left to a specialized
carver, who, very likely, collaborated closely
with Sene so that the latter could provide
wooden frames of the right shape and thick-
ness for carving. 6 The surface treatment was
done by Louis-François Chatard, whose

: • •
88
mémoire describes it as "gilding, burnishing,
and setting off in white"; for this he received
2,392 livres, which included packing the
furniture and shipping it to Saint-Cloud. 7
According to the 1789 inventory of the
château, in which the furniture is listed as in
Marie Antoinette's dressing room, the set
had show covers of white twilled-cotton
weave, embroidered in satin stitch with
rows of small detached bouquets in shaded
silk framed by borders of various widths.
The queen, who is known to have worked
on needlepoint projects until the end of her
life, was herself responsible for this embroi-
dery.9 Photographs of the pieces taken early
in the twentieth century show that the origi-
nal upholstery was embroidered with small
individual flowers, not unlike the designs on
the printed cotton fabrics known as cal-
ico. 10 These show covers were no longer on
the furniture when it entered the Museum's
collection in 1941, with the exception of the
fire screen, whose front panel has been pre-
served. 11 CD Although the natural cotton
ground is discolored, the silk embroidery,
executed in satin stitch, is in a remarkably
good condition. It consists of floral orna-
ment and in the center the interlaced initials
of Marie Antoinette, composed of corn-
flowers and other blossoms, all within simu-
lated corded borders that frame the panel.
White and various tones of yellow, blue, and
green were chosen for the flowers, and for
the corded borders several shades of pink
and a deep brown. This matt cotton fabric
with its floral needlepoint in a shiny silk floss
would have been in perfect harmony with the
dull off-white paint and the lustrous gilding
of the furniture frames and was very suitable
for use during the summer.11
A ground plan of Saint-Cloud in 1788
shows the new layout of the royal apart-
ments created by Mique on the first floor (the
American second floor) of one of the lateral
wings.' 3 The private rooms of the king faced
the garden and those of the queen the court-
yard. Both sets of rooms were en enfilade,
with the doors aligned so that one could
pass from one to the next in a straight line.
Marie Antoinette's dressing room had two
windows and four doors, two of which were
in the short walls opening to the rooms on
either side, the bedchamber and the Cabinet
Intérieur. Since the dressing room did not
have a niche, the daybed, an increasingly
popular piece of furniture during the eigh-
teenth century, stood, in all likelihood, along
the wall opposite the windows, flanked by
doors giving access to the garderobe, or
closet, and a private staircase behind the
room. In addition to this set of furniture,
the dressing room was furnished in 1789
with a dressing table and a commode, both
of mahogany, a fauteuil de toilette, as well
as a mechanical writing table by Jean-
Henri Riesener (1734-1806), now also in
the Museum's collection (see no. 77).' 4
Unlike the daybed and the bergère, none of
these other pieces or the gilt-bronze wall
brackets in the room had any ornament
derived from ancient Egyptian art. Never-
theless, Marie Antoinette seems to have
been one of the propagators of this novel
form of decoration in the Egyptian taste,
since she commissioned and bought a num-
ber of furnishings embellished with sphinxes
or figures with an Egyptian headdress. 15
The contents of Saint-Cloud were sold in
1794-95, a n d the furniture from Marie
Antoinette's dressing room may have been
included in the sale. Nothing further is
known about the history of the daybed,
bergère, and fire screen until 1911, when
they were twice offered for sale in Paris at
the Hôtel Drouot.' Attributed to Georges
Jacob, they were in the possession of the
marquis de Casaux until 1923' 7 and then
209
acquired by the financier George Blumenthal
(1858-1941), who was for many years a
trustee, and from 1934 to 1941 president,
of the Museum. 18 DK-G
1. Meyer 1965.
2. Pallot 1993, PP- 199-200.
3. Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3646, semester 1,
1788, 3 May, no. 157; see Verlet 1994, PP- 2 44 — 5 X J
265, no. 39. The whereabouts of the tabouret are not
known. The four armchairs are thought to be
dispersed among three collections. Two are at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London; illustrated in
Watson i960, pp. 140-41, no. 169. One, formerly
in the Rothschild collections, is now at Versailles;
ArizzoÜ-Clémentel 2002, pp. 294-95, n o - I 0 5 - The
fourth armchair was sold at auction at Sotheby's,
New York, 25 April 1998, lot 339, and again, at
Sotheby's, New York, 22 October 2005, lot. 78.
4. "Une sultanne de 9 pieds de long à deux dossier, le
devant bombé, la cinture orné d'une frisse de lierre,
d'une tore de mirtre et feuilles d'eaux, les pieds orné
d'un chapiteaux ionique et de 16 calenure avec
graines et d'un culot au bas, les montant de devant
composé d'une cariatides en guaines sur un pieds
d'estal, la guaine orné d'une perle et de branche de
mirte entrelassé et d'un tirce au milieu, le derriere à
collonne isolé orné du chapiteaux dorique faillies
d'ove et rosette calené au deux tierre avec feuille
d'acante entique et d'une basse composé, les traversse
des dossier orné d'une frisse à soleil et fleurond et
feuille d'aux au bas pour encadrement au desus une
arique orné de guirlande de rose, avec gaudron et
perle au desus, le tout fait avec soins et preparé en
bois de noyer, pour ce . . . 700 [livres]."; Archives
Nationales, Paris, O 3646, semester 1, 1788, 3 May,
no. 157; quoted in Verlet 1994, p. 244.
5. Pallot 1987, pp. 40, 42.
6. The document Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3290,
fols. i32r-i32V, Order of 3 May 1788, no. 157,
refers to this set as made by Séné, "le tout en bois
pour être sculpté"; Verlet 1994, p. 247.
7. "la dorure d'or bruni et rechampie en blanc";
Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3646, semester 2,
1788, 3 May, no. 157; quoted in Verlet 1994, p. 245.
For information about Chatard, see Boudry 2004.
8. "bazin des Indes de fond blanc, brodé au passé à
petite bouquets détachés encadré de bordures de 2, 3,
4 et 9 pouces: le tout en soie nuée"; Archives
Nationales, Paris, O 3428, p. 156; 1789 inventory
of Saint-Cloud.
9. "St Cloud, Cabinet particulier: un meuble de bazin
brodé par la reine, composée de 4 rideaux de croisé,
1 sultanne, 4 fauteuils, 1 bergere et 1 tabouret,
1 écran"; Archives Nationales, Paris, O 1 3544,
Garde-Meuble, summary of accounts for furniture
produced from 1784 to 1790, p. 385 (1788). See
Standen 1966, p. 23.
10. The bergère with its original upholstery is illustrated
in Guérinet n.d. (ca. 1910), pi. 89.
11. Accession number. 41.205.3c. This panel was mounted
on the back of the fire screen when it entered the
Museum's collection in 1941, although the queen's
cipher indicates that it was originally the front panel.
The front had been reupholstered. In 1991 an exact
copy of the fire screen was sold at auction with an
embroidered front panel showing individual flowers;
it may well have been the original back panel of this
screen; see Christie's, London, 13 June 1991, lot 47.
12. The Metropolitan Museum is currently working on
the re-creation of the embroidered covers.
13. Archives Nationales, Paris, N III (Seine-et-Oise) 1881.
It is illustrated in Meyer 1965, p. 229.
14. Supplied to the queen's Grand Cabinet Intérieur
at Versailles in 1781, it was later transferred to
Saint-Cloud; Kisluk-Grosheide 2005, pp. 79-82,
figs. 28-32.
15. Humbert, Pantazzi, and Ziegler 1994, pp. 127-28,
no. 52 (entry by Jean-Marcel Humbert). In her
Cabinet Intérieur at Saint-Cloud, for instance, there
was a table, now at the Louvre, mounted with gilt-
bronze sphinxes and supported on caryatid legs.
It is described in the 1789 inventory as a "figure de
femme terme ou cariatide, drapée dans le style
Egyptien"; Archives Nationales, Paris, O 3428,
p. 168.
16. First on 2 June, held for 1,000,000 francs and then
withdrawn; second on 17 June, sold to an unknown
buyer for 135,000 francs. "Trois meubles qui ont
probablement appartenu à Marie-Antoinette" 1924.
17. Sold from the marquis de Casaux collection, Hôtel
Drouot, Paris, 21 December 1923, lots A-C. The
illustrations in the sale catalogue show the three
pieces with the original embroidered show covers
largely intact.
18. Rubinstein-Bloch 1926-30, vol. 6, pis. XXXVII,
XXXVIII. The pieces were given after Blumenthal's
death in 1941 to the Museum by his second wife,
Ann Payne Blumenthal.

89.
Secretary on stand (secrétaire à abattant or secrétaire en cabinet)

French (Paris), ca. 1790
Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820)
Oak veneered with ebony, amaranth, holly,
ebonized holly, satinwood, and Japanese and
French lacquer panels; gilt-bronze mounts;
catelle marble top not original to the secretary;
steel springs; lined with modern morocco
H. 52>/s in. (133 cm), w. 34 in. (86.1 cm),
d. 16V2 in. (41.9 cm)
Stamped on the back above the right-hand
leg: "A. WEISWEILER " Painted underneath
stand: "151B."
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman,
1977.1.13
"Daguerre is [fleecing] the K[ing] of Naples at
a shameful rate. I saw yesterday a secretaire
(price 19000 livres) of most hideous taste,
with a tremendous deal of bronze ornament
wretchedly executed," wrote the well-
known collector William Beckford (1760-
1844) from Paris to his cousin Sir William
Hamilton (1730-1803), t n e English envoy
in Naples, on 27 February 1792. This not
very flattering remark pertained to one of a
pair of secretaries, which are both now in the
Museum's collection together with a match-
bro- ing commode à vantaux (fig. 122). These
pieces and a rolltop desk (fig. 123) were
leather bought by Ferdinand IV, king of Naples
(1751-1825), for his study at Caserta. 1
The history of this furniture began two
rear
the years earlier, when Ferdinand and many
other members of the royalty and nobility
1977 of Europe were gathered in Frankfurt to
attend the coronation of Leopold II
(1747-1792) as the Holy Roman Emperor.
Married to the newly crowned sovereign's
sister Maria Carolina (1752-1814), Ferdi-
nand was the brother-in-law of both Leopold
and Marie Antoinette (1755-1793).
Hoping to profit from this important
event by selling works of art they had
brought with them and to secure other com-
missions, the Parisian marchands-merciers
Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796) and Martin-
Eloi Lignereux (1750-1809), Daguerre's
business partner since 1789, also went to
Frankfurt. A bill of 20 September 1790
indicates that they achieved their goal by
selling an impressive list of luxury goods to
the court of Naples. This included a "very
beautiful commode with Chinese lacquer,
richly adorned with figures and other chis-
eled bronzes, gilded with real gold but not
burnished, with a top of brocatelle marble"
and a secretary with similar mounts en
suite. 2 Two years later a matching rolltop
lacquer desk, now in a private collection,
and a second secretary also bought from
Daguerre and Lignereux joined the set.
They were acquired for the king's study in
the royal palace at Caserta. 3 The second sec-
retary was described in detail in the bill of
21 March 1792: "a cabinet in the form of a
secretaire, also with the most beautiful
Chinese varnish, and veneered in ebony,
with feet like fluted columns in bronze and
TTfttlFP^tf:
 Daguerre probably submitted designs to
Weisweiler and provided him with the lac-
quer panels and the exquisite gilt-bronze
mounts called for in the designs.
Weisweiler made a number of secretaries
on stand, often with slender fluted legs con-
nected by interlaced stretchers of an intri-
cate design and supported on short toupie
(peg-top) feet. Despite the fact that they
were called "Chinese" in Daguerre's and
Lignereux's accounts, the exteriors of both
of the Museum's secretaries are decorated
with a combination of Japanese and French
lacquer panels. 7 The vertical side panels,
embellished with rectangular, cardlike orna-
ments with borders of mon symbols and
scrollwork incorporating some mother-of-
pearl, are Japanese and can be dated to
1630-50. CD The large panel mounted on
each fall front was decorated in France.
The surrounding borders—metal painted in
imitation of speckled aventurine lacquer—
are also European.

Fig. 122. Commode by Adam Weisweiler, ca. 1790. Oak veneered with ebony and mahogany and with Most beautiful are the decorative mounts
panels of Japanese and French lacquer; gilt-bronze mounts; marble top; 3 8 Va x 58% x 22,Vi in. The that are such an important aspect of
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977 (1977.1.12). Weisweiler's work. The frieze, consisting of

the legs . . . worked above the feet; this piece

is embellished with friezes, entablatures,
panels, and other ornaments in chiseled and
gilded bronze without burnishing; the inte-
rior is inlaid with yellow wood, with small
shelves for writing fitted about an inch
apart so that their position can be changed
at will; the fall front is covered with green
morocco leather, edged with a border of gilt
galloon. This piece of furniture makes a
symmetrical pair with the secretaire that
H. M. bought in Frankfurt." 4 Alabaster tops
were ordered from Rome for the pieces,
which, with the exception of the commode,
were delivered without marble slabs. s
Although the name of the cabinetmaker
is not mentioned in the bills, a stamp on this
secretary identifies it as the work of Adam
Weisweiler. One of a number of eighteenth-
century cabinetmakers born in the Rhine-
land but established in France, Weisweiler
had a long and successful career in Paris.
He worked almost exclusively for marchands-
merciers, most notably Daguerre, who sup-
plied his light and elegant furniture, decorated
with lacquer, porcelain, pietre dure, or beau- Fig. 123. Rolltop desk by Adam Weisweiler, 1792. Oak veneered with ebony, mahogany, and satinwood
and with panels of Japanese and French lacquer; gilt-bronze mounts; marble top; 53 i^ x 59 x 23% in.
tifully figured veneer, rather than with mar- Private collection. Since the back as well as the front and sides of the desk are veneered with lacquer
quetry, to the French and foreign courts. panels, it was intended to be freestanding.
separate panels of an almost jewel-like qual-
ity, is invisibly mounted by means of lugs
fastened either on top of the three drawer
fronts or from behind. Much of this orna-
ment, such as the central mask flanked by
cornucopias, goats, scrolling foliage, and
trumpeting fauns, is typical of Weisweiler's
furniture. The same is true of the female
term figures carrying a basket of flowers
placed in a recess at the front corners.CD
Because of their perfection, these wonderful
mounts have traditionally been attributed to
the gifted bronze worker and gilder Pierre
Gouthière (1732-1813/14), who often
worked for Daguerre. 9 François Rémond
(1747-1812), however, may also have been
involved, since he is known to have gilded,
and sometimes cast and finished, similar
mounts for Daguerre, who most likely
owned the models. 10
In contrast to the lustrous and dark exte-
rior, the interior, fitted with a shelf, pigeon-
holes, and narrow drawers, is much lighter
in color, being veneered with satinwood. CD
The drawer fronts have, in addition, ama-
ranth borders and small fillets of holly and
ebonized holly as well. 11 There is a set of
steel springs, connected to struts, that coun-
terbalance the weight of the fall front; the
mechanism is repeated in other examples of
Weisweiler's work. 12 An inscription on these
springs announces that they were made in
the German town of Solingen, well known
for the production of weapons and steel
tools. The drawers of the frieze, fitted with
spring catches at the back, are released by
pressing buttons in the interior, underneath
the top. The drawer in the stand can be
opened in a similar manner by pressing a
button underneath, making a lock and key-
hole unnecessary.' 3 A steel rod, partially
threaded, keeps the slender legs in place and
gives them additional strength and stability.
This practical feature allows the feet and
legs to be removed and the stretcher to be
detached, making it possible to move the
secretary in a disassembled state, decreasing
the risk of damaging its delicate legs. Given
the history of the piece, this must have
proved truly useful.
In 1792 the architect Carlo Vanvitelli
(1739-1821) changed the decor of King
Ferdinand's study at Caserta from the
Rococo to the more fashionable Neoclassical
style. It seems, in fact, that its new color
scheme was inspired by the purchase of
Weisweiler's commode and secretary two
years earlier. The British architect Sir Robert
Smirke (1781-1867), who visited Caserta
early in the nineteenth century, gave the fol-
lowing account of the redecorated room: "A
small Cabinet for the King is handsomely
finished with deep green[,] painted in panels
bordered with black—next [to] this is a
small gilt moulding and beyond a broad
stripe painted in imitation of venturino. . . .
The Base and Surbase is of red porphyry."' 4
The room has kept its late-eighteenth-
century decor until today. The furniture,
however, was removed in 1806, when the
royal couple fled to Sicily after Napoleon's
forces had occupied Naples.' 5 With the
Restoration of 1815, the furnishings were
returned to Caserta, where they probably
stayed until the unification of Italy in i860,
when the Kingdom of Naples was abol-
ished. It is not known when these superb
French pieces were sold and replaced with
the poor copies that are still in the room. In
1920 Charles Terrasse described the secre-
taries, the commode, and the rolltop desk in
detail in a catalogue that was probably pub-
lished as a form of advertisement when the
pieces were in the possession of a Parisian
dealer.' Having been in a private collection
in Argentina, the secretaries and commode
were back in Paris in 1950, where Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Wrightsman acquired them.' 7
DK-G
1. The author is indebted to Alvar González-Palacios
for his recent research on all four pieces. Much of it
was published in González-Palacios 2.003. William
Beckford's letter is quoted on p. 434 of his article.
The accession number of the second secretary is
1977.1.14.
2. "Una bellissima comoda con vernice della Cina,
riccamente adornata con figure, ed altri bronzi
intagliati, ed indorati in oro, senza essere imbruniti,
colla coperta di Marmo broccatello. Un Segretario
con suoi fornimenti sudetti bronzi." Quoted in
González-Palacios 2003, p. 442, doc. no. i.
3. Ibid.
4. "Un'altro mobile componendo armario a guisa di
Segretario, anche di belliss.ma vernice della Cina, ed
impiallicciato in legno di Ebano, con piedi fatti a
colonne scannellati in rame, i fra mezzi delle gambe
tagliuzzati ne' piedi, il detto mobile adornato di
freggi, cornici, quadri, ed altri ornamenti in bronzo
molto bene intagliati, ed indorati, senza imbrunitura,
l'interno foderato di legno giallo, con tavolini per
scrivere con incastratura ad un dito pollice di distan-
za l'uno dall'altro, per cangiare li detti tavolini a
piacere, il pezzo che casca giù coperto di marocchino
verde, con merletto in oro. Questo mobile serve a
far semema con un Segretario, che S.M. comprò
a Francfort." Quoted in ibid., pp. 434-35, 442,
doc. no. 2.
5. Ibid., pp. 439-40.
6. For information about Weisweiler's life and work,
see Lemonnier 1983; De Bellaigue 1974, vol. 2,
pp. 883-84; and Pradère 1989, pp. 389-403.
7. Some of these panels have been replaced or put back
differently since the pieces were published in 1920.
Compare the photographs in Terrasse 1920, between
pp. 14-15 and 18-19.
8. According to Oliver Impey (notes in the archives of
the Department of European Sculpture and
Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum), the decora-
tion of the fall front on both secretaries is all
European but possibly on Japanese black lacquer
panels. The lacquered decoration on the front and
sides of the present stand is entirely European, while
that on its pair is Japanese with European additions.
The fact that the two secretaries were made at differ-
ent times may explain some of the differences in their
construction.
9. See, for instance, Terrasse 1920, p. 6; Watson 1966a,
pp. 134-37, no. 88; and Watson 1966b, pp. 568-69.
io. Rémond is known to have gilded similar bronzes for
Daguerre to be mounted on furniture by Weisweiler;
Baulez 1995, pp. 84-85. See also Verlet 1999, p. 320.
11. The interior of the other secretary has been
reworked. It is fitted with two movable shelves for
papers, not unlike those described in the bill of 1792,
that rest on horizontal slots of satinwood.
12. A related secretary by Weisweiler in the collection of
the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, used to have similar
springs, for instance. Only the attachment pieces of
those springs, inscribed "Fait a Solingen," are still in
place. I am grateful to Mechthild Baumeister,
Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation,
Metropolitan Museum, for this information.
13. Again, I thank Mechthild Baumeister for this
information.
14. Quoted in González-Palacios 2003, p. 435.
15. In an inventory of 1800 the furniture was described
as being damaged; ibid.
16. Terrasse 1920.
17. Watson 1966a, p. 134, no. 88.
213
90.
Side chair

Italian (Sicily), ca. 1790-1800
Carved, gilded, and painted walnut; reverse-
painted glass ('verre églomisé,); covered ivith
cut and voided seventeenth-century silk velvet
probably not original to the side chair
H. 38VS in. (98.1 cm); w. 2iVs in. (54.9 cm);
d. 20 in. (50.8 cm)
In the center of the top of the back, in gilded
wood: "PPL"
Gift of John P. Richardson, 1992
1992.173.2
The gilded moldings and carved decoration
on this chair and a matching settee (fig. 124)
frame reverse-painted glass panels, which
imitate in different colors the hardstones
agate, marble, and lapis lazuli. Close inspec-
tion reveals the high quality and intriguingly
delicate structure of the paint and the
fragility of the panels, which is not evident
at first glance. That the chair and settee
have survived in such good condition is tes-
timony to the technical skills of the maker,
who provided a sound base for the heavy
glass strips, preventing them from peeling
away over time. Nevertheless, these are dis-
play pieces that were clearly not intended
for regular use. The smallest body move-
ment of a user or any attempt to shift or lift
the heavy objects puts divergent forces and
pressure on their ostentatious "skin."
the Villa Palagonia, . . . the initials 'PPL' . . .
do not correspond with those of any prince
of Palagonia and in truth the pieces have a
much more pronounced neo-classical sever-
ity than the Villa Palagonia ballroom." 4
John Richardson, the donor of the
Museum's pieces, which he had acquired on
the London art market, kept them at one
point in the Château de Castille in
Provence, the home of the Cubist scholar
Douglas Cooper, 5 who himself owned at
least three chairs from the set.' For the
moment, the original location of the suite
remains a mystery, although the precious-
ness and labor-intensive nature of the work
narrows the source of the commission to
one of the great, prosperous, aristocratic
families of Sicily.
The back of the settee is tripartite; the
medallion with initials appears at the top of
the center section, but in the same place on the
side sections there is a military trophy in the
form of a helmet superimposed on a saber.CD
There is a gilded openwork frieze of over-
lapping ellipses along the top of the back of
both the chair and the settee; this appears
also along the bottom of the back of the set-
tee but not on the Museum's chair. These
ellipses, rather freely adapted from ancient
vase paintings, reflect the so-called Etruscan
fashion of the last third of the eighteenth
century.7 A very similar pair of chairs, each,
however, with an octagonal verre églomisé
panel set into the back in place of uphol-
stery, is part of the collection of Juan March
Ordinas at Palau March in Palma de Mal-
lorca. That those panels show a mythological
chariot in the manner of an ancient vase
painting is also very much in the "Etruscan"
style. The incorporation of glass panels in
the center of the backs makes the March
chairs even more fragile than the Derby
House suite.'
Other pieces from this suite are preserved
in the Art Institute of Chicago (two chairs), 10
the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota,
Florida (two settees and two chairs)," and
the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt
am Main (one chair),' 2 as well as in various
private collections. Some of them have been
re-covered in shell pink or blue gray fabric
with the intention of intensifying the effect
of the same shades painted on the glass.
WK
1. Catalogue of a sale at Christie, Manson, and Woods,
London, 26 July 1940, lot 41 (sold to Mrs. Violer
van der Eist).
2. Catalogue of the Violet van der Eist collection sale,
Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, 8 April
1948, lot 114 (ill.).

The Museum's chair and settee are part

of a large suite that originally consisted of at
least four settees and twenty side chairs.'
Early in the twentieth century the set was in
the collection of the earl of Derby, at Derby
House, London, from where it was sold in
1940 to Mrs. Violet van der Eist, also of
London. The pieces were dispersed in
1 9 4 8 / At that time, all items of the suite
were covered with the bold red and gold
baroque-cut velvet that still decorates the
Museum's pieces. For many years it was
assumed that the initials "PPL" displayed in
a medallion on the backs referred to the
Villa Patagonia in Bagheria, near Palermo,
and, more specifically, to a member of the
illustrious Gravina family as a patron; 3
however, as James David Draper pointed
out, although "the peculiarly Sicilian pen- Fig. 1 2 4 . Settee, Italian (Sicily), ca. 1 7 9 0 - 1 8 0 0 . Carved, gilded, and painted w a l n u t ; reverse-painted
glass (verre églomisé); covered in cut and voided seventeenth-century silk velvet p r o b a b l y not original
chant for fashioning an overall look out of
t o the settee; 38V4 x 78 3 /s x 2 6 in. T h e M e t r o p o l i t a n M u s e u m of A r t , N e w Y o r k , Gift of J o h n P.
glass was most memorably given free rein at Richardson, 1 9 9 2 ( 1 9 9 2 . 1 7 3 . 1 ) .

214
9°
3- Wardwell 1967, p. 520.
4. Draper 1994, p. 23. On the Villa Palagonia and its
glass decorations and furniture, see González-
Palacios 1971. González-Palacios quotes (p. 456) an
English visitor to the villa in 1770, Patrick Brydone,
who called it an "enchanted castle," in which some
of the ceilings "instead of plaster or stucco, are com-
posed entirely of large mirrors, nicely joined together.
The effect that these produce (as each of them make
a small angle with the other), is exactly that of a mul-
tiplying glass, so that when three or four people are
walking below, there is always the appearance of
three or four hundred walking above." Goethe, who
visited the villa in 1787, described it as "the
Palagonian madhouse." See also González-Palacios
1984, vol. 1, p. 385, vol. 2, p. 275, fig. 629; and
Giarrizzo and Rotolo 1992, p. 124, pi. 78.
5. Mentioned to me by Walter E. Stait, in 1993.
6. Richardson 1984, pp. 56-57.
7. Morley 1999, pp. 202-8, pi. 386.
8. Junquera y Mato 1992, p. 269.
9. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to
examine the chairs in question and have no idea
what their state of preservation is. The Derby House
set was copied in the early twentieth century; see cat-
alogue of a sale at Christie's, London, 27 May 1993,
lot 18 T.
10. Wardwell 1967, p. 520.
11. Duval 1981, p. 157, no. 153.
12. Bauer, Märker, and Ohm 1976, pp. 112, 145-46,
no. 201; see also catalogue of a sale at Sotheby's,
New York, 28 April 1990, lots 175-77 (three pairs
of side chairs).
215
91.
Athénienne

French (Paris), ca. 1800-1814 rior design in France during the Empire continental Europe. His inventive traveling
Design attributed to Charles Perder period, is based on its close similarity to a sets and ostentatious tableware found favor
(1764-1838); made by the firm of Martin-
large colored drawing ascribed to Percier not only with the emperor and his entourage
Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843; retired 1819)
Legs, base, and shelf of yew wood; gilt-bronze now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in but also with the swarm of nouveaux riches
mounts; iron plate beneath the shelf Paris (fig. 125). The maker of the Museum's and self-made men who flourished in prosper-
H. 36VS in. (92.4 cm), d. 19'A in. (49.5 cm) piece, Martin-Guillaume Biennais, was per- ous post-Revolutionary France. 7 Biennais's
Bequest of James Alexander Scrymser, 1918 haps the most accomplished goldsmith and products were smartly promoted on his busi-
26.256.1
entrepreneur of his time in France (see also ness card of 1806. It shows at the left in an
the entry for no. 92). He owed his economic architectural niche a fashionable tripod, most
The form of this elegant washstand ulti- success to the dissolution of the mighty likely a perfume burner or brazier, crowned
mately derives from the ancient Greco- Parisian guilds, the grandes corporations, by a swan with spread wings.
Roman three-legged perfume burner or which had controlled the activity of all There is an iron plate on the underside of
brazier, of which the designer Charles craftsmen and artisans during the ancien the triangular shelf between the legs of the
Percier had made some study. The decora- régime. Like other skillful young goldsmiths Museum's example. This served as an attach-
tion reflects his familiarity with the wall he found himself free after the Revolution ment for a lost, hanging bell-shaped ornament
decorations in the emperor Nero's Golden to explore business opportunities without decorated with a stylized acanthus-and-
House and their adaptation in Raphael's corporate obstacles and turned his back on acorn motif. How the bell hung down over
Logge in the Vatican. A reappreciation dur- the outdated privileges and jealousies of the the stand can be seen in another version of
ing the Renaissance of the tripod as a luxury habitually conservative former guild mas- this model in Fontainebleau. 9 The unusually
item of the utmost refinement is docu- ters. One of seven children, Biennais was formed, bold ormolu mount would have
mented as early as 1499 by an example born into a simple laboring family in 1764. shifted the eye slightly toward the gilt-metal
illustrated in Francesco Colonna's Hypnero- Four decades later, he headed the most parts below, creating a better balance between
tomachia Poliphili, published in Venice that important goldsmith's and jeweler's firm in the warm-colored wood and gilded bronze
year.' A further not-to-be-underestimated
influence on Percier was Neoclassical paint-
ings illustrating ancient Greek mythology,
such as The Loves of Paris and Helen, com-
missioned from Jacques-Louis David (1748-
1825) by the comte d'Artois in 1788. 2 The
designer was also familiar with the richly
illustrated seven-volume Recueil d'antiquités
(1752-67) by the comte de Caylus (1692-
1765), 3 and the Recueil et parallèle des
édifices by Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand (1760-
1834), published between 1799 and 1801 in
Paris, in which plate 25 was devoted to tri-
pod forms, among other types of Roman
objects.4
The shape of the base and of the shelf—
triangular with canted sides—can be traced
back to a famous antique Roman tripod %sn
named after the French antiquarian Nicolas-
Claude Fabri de Peirese (1580-1637). 5
Percier was probably also acquainted with
the athénienne designed about 1773 by
Jean-Henri Eberts (no. 69 in this book),
which has the same type of base.
The long-accepted attribution of the
design of this athénienne to Charles Percier, Fig. 125. Design for an athénienne,
the imaginative friend of Pierre-François- attributed to Charles Percier. Graphite
and wash drawing. Museé des Arts
Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853), who in
Décoratifs, Cabinet des Arts
partnership with Fontaine dominated inte- Graphiques, Paris (10424).

216
91

217
mounts and the sparkling, moonlight-cold
look of the silver basin and ewer (both miss-
ing from the Museum's piece). Several simpler
washstands are recorded in inventories of
Napoleon's palaces.10
Percier's athénienne is known in three
versions: the above-mentioned example at
Fontainebleau, which has a probably not
original dark, patinated metal basin (the
ewer is lost); the present piece; and the
famous personal washstand of Napoleon,
today at the Musée du Louvre, Paris."
Napoleon kept it in his bedroom at the
Palais des Tuileries, where he settled early in
1800, the year in which he commissioned
the stand. It was one of the few personal
luxury items that accompanied the emperor
into exile at Saint Helena.
Like Napoleon's washstand, this exam-
ple is decorated with masterfully executed
dolphins and swans, both graceful allusions
to Napoleon as the rightful successor of the
Sun King, Louis XIV. The firstborn son of
each French ruler was called the "Dau-
phin," a word that also means dolphin.
That jolly sea-dweller and also the winged
sea creatures on the frieze around the trian-
gular shelf suggest the Mediterranean, which
forms the southern border of France and
92.
Medal cabinet
French (Paris), ca. 1809-19
Designed and drawn by Charles Percier
(1764-1838), probably following instructions
from Baron Dominique-Vivant Denoti
(1747-1825); made by François-Honoré-Georges
Jacob-Desmalter (1770-1841); silver decorations
by the firm of Martin-Guillaume Biennais
(1764-1843; retired 1819)
Mahogany; applied and inlaid silver
H. 35'A in. (90.2 cm), w. i<?34 in. (50.2 cm),
d. 14'4 in. (37.5 cm)
Engraved above each keyhole: "Biennais." Marked
on one wing of each winged disk: the letter B sur-
mounted by a crouching monkey, pellet on each
side, within a lozenge [the maker's mark); a
rooster and the number 1 in an octagon [the Paris
assay mark for first-standard silver, 1809-19]; a
helmeted head in a circle [the Paris medium excise
mark for silver, 1809-19]. Marked on the other
wing of each winged disk: a classical head and the
letter P in an oval [the standard mark, 1793-94]
Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900
26.168.77
218
surrounds the island of Corsica, the birth-
place of Napoleon.' 2 CD The swan, which
was believed to utter a beautiful song at the
time of its death, was associated with
Apollo, god of music, with whom Louis
XIV identified himself. The swan is also a
symbol of beauty and of parental solicitude.
At the approach of danger, with feathers
puffed up and anxiously hissing, these birds
protect their young within the wall of their
white wings. Napoleon's consort, Josephine,
and her children were frequently compared
to a swan and its cygnets.'^ The swan was
chosen as her symbol by Claude, wife of
Francis I, the French Renaissance king
whom Napoleon greatly admired.
The Museum's athénienne was certainly
made for a close friend or relative of the
emperor. It is a superior example of the new
Empire style, through which Napoleon, with
the aid of leading artisans, tried to emulate
the lavish decors of the ancien régime,
modified by the classical restraint and for-
mality of the art of the caesars of ancient
Rome. Empire furniture of such superbly
calculated plan and proportions may express
better than anything else the confidence,
fresh ideas, and energy of the age.
WK
The design, medium, and execution of this
extravagant medal cabinet are as impressive
and eccentric as the man who probably
commissioned it, Napoleon, Emperor of the
French (1769-1821), who at the time of its
making was a step away from abdication
and exile.' The first significant contempo-
rary reference to it has been published by
Antony Griffiths: "The most interesting
record, however, is an account submitted in
February 1814 by [the goldsmith] Biennais
for 3 600 francs, for what is described as the
'médailler du Roi.'" In Biennais's account,
Griffiths continues, this medal cabinet for
the king is described as "in the form of an
Egyptian pedestal, containing 44 mahogany
drawers with silver mounts, and meant to
serve as a stand for the emperor's old medal
cabinet." 2
r. P. Thornton 1991, p. 212, pi. 240.
2. Jacques-Louis David 1989, pp. 184-88, no. 79; and
Dion-Tenenbaum 2003, p. 20, fig. 9.
3. Paolini, Ponte, and Selvafolta 1990, p. 30.
4. Morley t999, p. 17, fig. 10 (dated 1802); and
D'après l'antique 2000, p. 345, no. 159 (entry by
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum).
5. For the Peirese tripod, see Morley 1999, p. 25, fig. 27.
6. Dion-Tenenbaum 2003, pp. 19-20, no. 2; in this
excellent study Dion-Tenenbaum discusses the evolu-
tion of the tripod form in great detail.
7. Ibid., pp. r 1-17.
8. Ibid., p. 14, fig. 3.
9. The third known version of rhis model, in the Musée du
Louvre, Paris, has an idenrical iron plate, but the pen-
dent bell ornament has been lost. On this washstand, see
below at n. 1 r. For the second version, ar Fontainebleau,
see Dion-Tenenbaum 2003, pp. 23-24, no. 4.
10. For example, "une athénienne dorée beau bois
d'acajou, pot et jatte dorés" (a gilded athénienne of
mahogany, the ewer and bowl gilded) and another
with gilded ewer and bowl decorated with palmettes;
Archives Nationales, Paris, O 2 55.
11. For Napoleon's washstand, see R., G., and C.
Ledoux-Lebard 1953, p. 200, no. 872; D'après
l'antique 2000, pp. 346-47, no. 160 (entry by
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum); Dion-Tenenbaum 2003,
pp. 21-22, no. 3; Feigenbaum 2003, p. 71, no. 47
(enrry by David O'Brien); and Pastré 2003, p. 2T09,
fig. 4.
12. A Greek mosaic found on the island of Delos is deco-
rated with dolphins and the same wavelike Vitruvian
scroll ornament that encircles the upper ring of the
basin holder of the Museum's washstand. For the
mosaic, see Arizzoli-Clémental 1994, p. 62.
13. Draper 1978, p. [4]. On the symbolism of swans,
see Hall 1979, p. 294.
Napoleon was interested in medals.
While campaigning in Egypt in the 1790s,
he found a medal of the Roman general
Julius Caesar, and in 1803 when he was
considering an invasion of England, some
coins of William the Conqueror were
uncovered at Ambleteuse. Both discoveries
were considered extremely propitious. 3 He
developed the practice of distributing
medals on state occasions to commemorate
the high points of his career, and he also had
special editions struck in precious metals
and sent to foreign allies. The first fully doc-
umented owner of this cabinet, Napoleon's
Director General of Museums, Baron
Dominique-Vivant Denon, was no less an
enthusiast.' When his estate was sold after
his death, three thousand contemporary
medals alone were listed in the inventory. 4
92

219
Fig. 126. Charles Percier,
Design for a Medal Cabinet.
Drawing. Musée des Arts
Décoratifs, Cabinet des Arts
Graphiques, Paris (CD 3240
[GF9I).
Fig. 127. General view of
the medal cabinet. Several
drawers have been opened
by pulling the hinged wings
of the silver scarablike
insects inlaid in the front.
Denon had accompanied Napoleon on his
Egyptian campaign in 1798-99 as a record-
ing draftsman. The book he wrote based on
his experiences and observations along the
Nile, Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte
(1802), brought ancient Egypt to life for his
readers and whipped up to a frenzy the
European craze known as Egyptomania.
Napoleon later appointed Denon director of
the Musée Napoléon (now the Musée du
Louvre). He was also for a time in charge of
the medals mint (Monnaie des Médailles)
and designed the ceremonial necklace of the
Legion of Honor, a special badge with a
chain, made by the French firm of Biennais,
which Napoleon gave to distinguished mem-
bers of his immediate entourage. 5
Denon may have instructed the designer
Charles Percier regarding the details of
this splendid cabinet (see Percier's design,
fig. 126). The pylon (gateway) at Apollo-
nopolis Parva (now Ghoos) in Upper Egypt,
which Denon recorded in his book, served
as the inspiration for the top section. 7 The
piece was made by the Parisian firm of
François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter,
who in 1807 employed as many as 350 spe-
cialist craftsmen. His furniture is character-
ized by superb quality, classical severity, and
functional perfection. Whether or not the
cabinet was commissioned by Napoleon, it
would have appealed to him. The emperor
once compared his own perfectly orderly
mind to "a chest of drawers, which he could
open or close at will, forgetting any subject
when its drawer was closed, and finding it
ready with all necessary detail when its
drawer was opened."
Like other grand furniture of the Empire
period, the cabinet is decorated with applied
and inlaid metal, but here the patron
demanded something out of the ordinary:
the fittings are of the finest silver (having a
purity of 950/1,000) rather than the usual
gilded bronze. The famous goldsmith's shop
of Martin-Guillaume Biennais was selected
to make them. Beneath the cornice at the
top there are inlaid silver bands surmounted
by an Egyptianizing winged disk and two
uraei, the sacred cobra symbol of ancient
Egyptian kings. Inlaid on the front and the
back panel of the cabinet is a winged scarab
93-
Side chair
Austrian (Vienna), ca. 1815-20
Designed and made at Danhauser's K. K. Priv.
Möbel-Fabrik, Vienna
Beech and pine veneered with cherry; ebonized
mahogany framing strips; covered in silk not orig-
inal to the chair
H. 37'/s in. (94.3 cm); w. 22'/s in. (56.2 cm);
d. 19 in. (48.3 cm)
Purchase, Friends of European Sculpture and
Decorative Arts Gifts, 1996
1996.417.1
The years between 1815 and 1848 in
Germany and Austria were characterized by
a conservative political and cultural climate.
The period and its style of interior decora-
tion are both called Biedermeier, after a
between uraei astride lotus stalks. The eye of
each uraeus is a catch; when a silver stick
that accompanies the keys to the cabinet is
inserted in the pupil, the body of the snake
falls forward to reveal the keyhole that
opens one of the two side doors.CD Then the
function of the cabinet is revealed. Each
cupboard contains twenty-two drawers of
graduated size, formerly fitted to hold
medals and coins (the number of each
drawer is engraved on an octagonal silver
plaque affixed to the top edge). In the center
of each drawer front is inlaid a silver scarab-
like insect, whose right wing is hinged to
provide a pull (fig. 127). In addition to his
maker's mark on one wing of each winged
disk, Biennais had his name engraved above
each keyhole so that no one opening the
cupboards could miss it.CD
As Jean-Marcel Humbert has observed,
"The originality and variety of its decoration
make this piece an excellent illustration of
the taste for things Egyptian at the beginning
of the nineteenth century. At the same time,
it is the very essence of Egyptomania: the
adaptation of antique forms and decora-
tions, in dimensions as well as materials, to a
type of object and function completely dif-
ferent from those associated with these sym-
bols in Antiquity." 9 WK
fictional character invented by the poet
Ludwig Eichrodt (1827-1892) in the 1850s.
Although the term invokes qualities typical
of the German bourgeoisie (unpretentious-
ness, thrift, domesticity), the origin of the
Biedermeier furniture style was totally aris-
tocratic. The simple, elegant forms with their
clean lines and light-colored wood veneer
derived from the ornamentally restrained
furniture that had been made for the royal
and princely households of Germany, Austria,
and France beginning in the late eighteenth
century.' For this market, even Parisian
ébénistes, such as Cañabas, Saunier, Jacob,
and Molitor, 2 produced simple mahogany
pieces that were set apart only by their
1. On the design, medium, and execution of the cabinet,
see Dominique-Vivant Denon 1999, p. 425, no. 492
(entry by Anne Dion-Tenenbaum). For the silver
marks, see Carré 1931, p. 202 (Paris mark for first-
standard silver), p. 203 (Paris medium excise mark);
Beuque and Frapsauce 1929, p. 281, no. 2493; and
Nocq 1926-31, p. 195 (standard marks described,
dated 1797). Other recent literature on the cabinet
includes the following: Napoléon 1969, pp. 105-6,
no. 289 (entry by Serge Grandjean); Age ofNeo-
Classicistn 1972, no. 1609 (entry by William Rieder);
Kjellberg 1978-80, vol. 2, p. 151, fig. 143; Koeppe
1993, p. 43; Arizzoli-Clémenral 1994, p. 67; and
Humbert, Pantazzi, and Ziegler 1994, pp. 206-8,
no. 107 (entry by Jean-Marcel Humbert).
2. "en forme de piédestal égyptien, contenant 44 tiroirs
en bois d'acajou avec ornemcns incrustés en argent,
et destiné à supporter l'ancien médaillier de l'Em-
pereur." Griffiths 1991, pp. 47-49, fig. 17.
3. Draper 1978, no. 14, fig. 5.
4. Dubois 1826, p. 191, no. 835; and Dominique-
Vivant Denon 1999.
5. Dion-Tenenbaum 2003, pp. 102-4, n o - 6>7-
6. On Percier as the designer of this cabinet, see
Humbert, Pantazzi, and Ziegler 1994, pp. 206-8,
no. 107 (entry by Jean-Marcel Humbert). For other
aspects of his career, see the entry for no. 91.
7. Denon 1802 (1989-90 ed.), vol. 2, pi. LXXX, fig. 1;
and Kjellberg 1978-80, vol. 2, p. 151, fig. 143.
8. Palmer 1963, p. 370.
9. Humbert, Panrazzi, and Ziegler 1994, pp. 206-8,
no. 107 (entry by Jean-Marcel Humbert).
excellent materials and outstanding crafts-
manship.' Berlin, Munich, and Viennese
cabinetmakers followed suit, creating simi-
lar, refined furniture. 4
Contemporary watercolors document
that Biedermeier interiors were character-
ized by the use of strong colors for paint,
wallpaper, and fabrics. 5 Consequently, the
upholstery specialist of the Metropolitan
Museum's Objects Conservation Department
was delighted but not surprised to discover
some silk threads of a strong aquamarine
color beneath the former show covers on the
present chair and its pair, which is also in
the Museum's collection. An appropriate
fabric was acquired and dyed to match these
221
remnants of the earliest upholstery. Seldom
are curators and conservators given such a
splendid opportunity to re-create the origi-
nal appearance of a piece of furniture and to
do it with the correct material, in this case,
precious silk. The spring upholstery on the
drop-on seats is original, as are large parts
of the surface finish.7 The quest for truly
comfortable seating furniture characterized
the Biedermeier period: in 1822 Georg
Junigl obtained a patent in Vienna "for his
improvement on contemporary methods of
furniture upholstery which, by means of a
special preparation of hemp and with the
assistance of iron springs, he renders so
elastic that it is not inferior to horsehair
upholstery."
The Museum's side chairs, originally part
of a set of six, can be attributed to the firm
of Josef Ulrich Danhauser (1780-1829), the
leading furniture manufacturer in Vienna. 9
He had many royal patrons, including Arch-
duke Karl von Sachsen Teschen (1771-1847)
and Duke Albert von Sachsen Teschen (1738-
1822). The Danhauser factory produced some
items in large quantities, and these pieces
established the firm's reputation throughout
Central Europe and Northern Italy.10 WK
1. Folnesics 1922; and Himmelheber 1989.
2. Joseph Gegenbach, called Cañabas (1712-1797);
Claude Charles Saunier (1735-1807); Georges Jacob
(1739-1814); Bernard Molitor (d. 1833).
3. Reyniès 1987, vol. 1, pp. 42-45, 205; and Pfeil 1999,
p. 235.
4. Ottomeyer 1987; and Stiegel 2003.
5. Gere 1989, pp. 188-93; Völker 1996, pp. 12, 69,
figs. 6, 61; Arrizoli-Clémental 1994, p. 47.
6. "Recent Acquisitions" 1997, p. 50 (entry by
Wolfram Koeppe).
7. Out of the set of six (see below), the Museum was
allowed to choose the two chairs in the best state of
preservation. They were examined and conserved
by Mechthild Baumeister and Nancy C. Britton,
Conservators, in the Museum's Sherman Fairchild
Center for Objects Conservation in 1998. The acces-
sion number of the second chair is 1996.417.2.
8. Fleming and Honour 1989, p. 842. The technique
had been in existence for some time, however; see
Fabiankowitsch and Witt-Dörring 1996.
9. "Danhauser's K. K. Priv. Möbel Fabrik" translates as
Danhauser's Privileged Imperial and Royal Furniture
Manufactory. For similar chairs, see Vienna in the
Age of Schubert 1979, p. 29, fig. 6, p. 41, fig. 15;
Griffo 1984, p. 38; Himmelheber 1973, fig. 380;
Wilkie 1987, p. 71, fig. 54, pp. 137-38, 148, fig. 138;
Himmelheber 1989, pp. 112, 214, nos. 121, 122;
Paolini, Ponte, and Selvafolta 1990, p. 210; and
Wardropper and L. S. Roberts 1991, pp. 98, 137-38.
10. Himmelheber 1989; and Fabiankowitsch and Witt-
Dörring 1996.
Fig. 128. This view of the side chair from behind
shows not only the sculptural quality of the
design but the w a y in which the chair back curves
to s u p p o r t the h u m a n back with comfort.
 .

93

223
94-
Vase

Lapidary work Italian (Florence), the mounts
and pedestal French (Paris), 1S19
Mounts and pedestal by Pierre-Philippe Thomire
(1751-1843)
Russian malachite, composite filling material;
gilt-bronze mounts; bronze pedestal
H. (with pedestal) 9 ft. 2 in. (279.4 cm)> k- (vase
alone) 5 ft. 7'A in. (171.5 cm)
Incised on the pedestal: "THOMIRE A PARIS
1819."
Purchase, Admiral Frederic R. Harris Gift, 1944
44.152 a,b
As early as 4000 B.C. malachite was used by
the Egyptians to produce precious contain-
ers for sacred oils and cosmetics. The min-
eral is a hydrated copper carbonate that
forms by chemical alteration in the copper
ores. It "grows in layers of tiny crystals, and
its colors correlate with different crystal
sizes: smaller crystals form light green bands
and larger crystals make darker ones." 1
Today the main source of gem malachite
with intricate patterns and layers is Zaire, in
equatorial Africa; however, in the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries, malachite
was mostly mined in Russia, and working it
was considered a typically Russian art, like
the crafting of cut-steel furniture at Tula
(see the entry for no. 79). A schistoid mate-
rial, malachite is brittle and cannot be used
to make big, monolithic objects, although
items of limited size can sustain themselves.
For large pieces, malachite has to be used as
veneer attached to a firm structure. The
flamboyance of cut-steel and malachite
objects puts these Russian creations in a
unique category within the European deco-
rative arts. It seems curiously appropriate
that the early history of the two crafts
should have been intertwined with the life
of the same man, Akinfi Nikitich Demidov
(1678-1745).
Early in the eighteenth century this skill-
ful blacksmith in Tula who specialized in
refined parade weaponry, attracted the
attention of Peter the Great (1672-1725).
The Russian emperor granted him certain
privileges, and he was later given land near
Moscow on which to establish forges. When
these turned out to be highly successful
enterprises, Demidov was granted undevel-
oped territories in the Ural Mountains. 2
Two generations later, the Demidov family
discovered iron, platinum, and precious and
semiprecious stones there. They also searched
for copper 3 and found large deposits of
malachite nearby. The Demidovs used the
unusual stone to decorate a room in one of
their residences, and this became the proto-
type of the Malachite Room in the Winter
Palace in Saint Petersburg. 4
The first imperial lapidary factory was
founded at Peterhof, near Saint Petersburg,
in 1723. Here the Russian techniques of
making malachite mosaics were first per-
fected. Covering whole wall panels with a
finely patterned mosaic of malachite pieces
required great skill. The stone had to be cut
in thin slabs, mounted on a special plaster
or stone backing, and arranged to form
designs. 5 A second factory was established,
in 1726, at Ekaterinburg. It specialized in
producing huge malachite, lapis lazuli, and
jasper vases with gilded bronze handles to
stand on grand staircases or fill alcoves in
the reception rooms of the Saint Petersburg
palaces. Most of the malachite came from
the Demidov mines. Malachite became even
more fashionable in the nineteenth century,
when new and richer lodes were discovered
on the western slopes of the Ural Mountains,
making it possible to carry out such projects
as the one for Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint
Petersburg, with its ten thirty-foot-tall
malachite mosaic columns.'
The Museum's vase is of the so-called
Medici type, based on an ancient Roman form
admired in the early nineteenth century.7 It was
commissioned by Count Nikolai Demidov
(1773-1828) for his villa at San Donato, near
Florence. From a distance the malachite
veneer is perfection itself. A closer look
reveals an uneven—and in some areas an
almost clumsy—use of the stone, by compari-
son with important malachite objects of
known Russian manufacture. For example,
large areas of the surface are composed of
small malachite particles mixed with a filling
substance. It thus seems likely that the veneer
was not applied by the extraordinarily skilled
Russian master mosaicists. Instead, Demidov
probably had the raw malachite—a symbol
of his fortune—transported from the family-
owned mines to Florence. There it would
have been shaped and finished by local artists,
perhaps at the famous stone-working factory
Opificio delle Pietre Dure, and then sent on to
Paris to be fitted with its gilt-bronze mounts
and set on its bronze pedestal.
The winged female figures attached to
the body of the vase represent Fame.CD Their
trumpet-attributes are teasingly shaped like
handles, suggesting the possibility of lifting
Fig. 129. Inscription on
the vase's pedestal giv-
ing the surname of the
mount maker Pierre-
Philippe Thomire and
the date 1819.

224
the monumental object like a loving cup.
Both figures stand on military trophies and
wear laurel crowns, the symbols of victory.
A garland of laurel runs prominently under
the lip mount. This evergreen plant, Laurus
nobilis, was an emblem adopted by Lorenzo
de' Medici (1448-1492) together with the
motto "Ita ut virtus," which means "Thus is
virtue," that is to say, virtue is evergreen,
like the color of the precious stone that
embellishes this vase. 8 Lorenzo, wealthy
patron of the arts, was called "the Magni-
ficent." Did Count Demidov want to evoke
a comparison between his own family's
"evergreen" fortune and that of the Floren-
tine Medici dynasty?
The vase's foot is firmly established on an
ormolu roundel covered with oak leaves and
acorns, the traditional symbols of strength
and continuity that were part of the heraldic
devices of several noble families in Renais-
225
sance Tuscany (fig. 129). These and the other
mounts by the famous Thomire ormolu fac-
tory in Paris are of superb quality. Pierre-
Philippe Thomire was known throughout
Europe for his bronze decorations and sculp-
ture. He established a reputation about 1780
with his beautiful mounts for Sèvres porce-
lain vases. In 1804 he founded a workshop
that produced furniture as well as luxury
bronzes. After Thomire brilliantly executed
large commissions for the imperial palaces,
Napoleon granted his firm the title four-
nisseur de leurs Majestés?
Count Demidov displayed this vase,
which is still in the Empire style, 10 at the
Villa San Donato, together with his impor-
tant art collection, until his death. His heir,
Prince Anatole Demidov (1812-1870),
enlarged the villa and commissioned and
purchased many paintings, sculptures, and
decorative objects to fill it." In the winter of
1874-75, while a student at Florence, the
American sculptor Daniel Chester French
(1850-1931) described the interior of the
Demidov Palace and made special note of
the numerous objects of malachite that were
there, including "great malachite vases five
feet high." He added, "The Demidov Family,
it seems, owned all the malachite mines in
the world."' 2 At the time of the sale of parts
of the prince's collection in 1880, this vase
was described in the catalogue as supporting
95-
Armchair
German (Berlin), 1828
Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
(1781-1841); probably made by Johann Christian
Sewining (d. 183 6) and Karl Wanschaff
(1775-1878)
Mountain ash, gilded; brass mounts and casters;
modern upholstery
H. 35V2 in. (90.2 cm), w. 2 4 % in. (61.5 cm),
d. 23 Ain. (59.1 cm)
Purchase, Gifts of Mr. and Mrs. William
Randolph Hearst Jr., Irwin Untermyer, and
John D. Rockefeller Jr., by exchange, and Bequest
of John L. Cadwalader, by exchange, 1996
1996.30
226
a gilt-bronze candelabrum with nineteen
branches in the form of fluted, leafy stalks
arranged in a lower tier of twelve surmounted
by a central cluster of seven branches. Today
wooden blocks fitted around the interior of
the rim and pierced with twelve holes remain.
These holes presumably were made to hold
the twelve branches of the first tier of the can-
delabrum as mentioned in the sale catalogue.' 3
William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885)
purchased the vase at the 1880 Demidov sale
for his residence at 640 Fifth Avenue, New
York City.'4 In an annotated catalogue of the
sale, the name Crosby appears with the entry
for lot 1019, the Museum's vase. John Schuyler
Crosby (1839-1914) and James Jackson Jarves
(1818-1888) apparently acted as Vanderbilt's
agents, which is surprising, given the impor-
tance of their official positions. They were at
that time, respectively, American consul and
vice-consul in Florence.''
Comparable in size and shape but set with
mounts in a different style is a malachite vase
in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.
It was presented by Nicholas I of Russia
(1796-1855) to Queen Victoria when he
stayed at Windsor in 1844. 1 WK
I am grareful to Marina Nudel, Senior Research
Associate, Department of European Sculpture and
Decorative Arrs, for helping me with this entry.
Between 1826 and 1828, at the height of his
influence as Germany's leading architect and
most sought-after designer, Karl Friedrich
Schinkel was commissioned by Prince Karl
of Prussia (1801-1883) to remodel the
prince's Berlin palace (destroyed in World
War II). It seemed appropriate that Karl, a
son of King Frederick William III of Prussia
( 1770-1840) and the younger brother of
King Frederick William IV (1795-1861)
and Emperor William I (1797-1888), would
engage the court architect Schinkel to draw
up the plans. For the Marble Hall (or
Reception Hall) Schinkel designed a luxuri-
ous suite of gilded furniture, comprising
Post 1997, pp. 132-33.
Kennett 1973, p. 41.
For copper objects made at the Demidov factories,
see Kugel 1.998, p. 30, no. 90.
Kennett 1973, p. 41.
Ibid.; and Chenevière 1988, pp. 264-66.
Hare 1965, p. 261; and Chenevière 1988,
pp. 259-64.
Héricart de Thury 1819, p. 80, no. 1; see also
Ottomeyer 2004, p. 16.
Hall 1979, p. 190.
Cohen 1986; and the entry on Pierre-Philippe
Thomire by Martin Chapman in Dictionary of Art
1996, vol. 30, p. 747.
Draper 1978, no. 182.
For the Demidovs as collectors, see The Contents of
Villa Demidoff, Pratolino, near Florence, catalogue
of a Sotheby's of London sale at the Villa Demidoff,
21-24 April 1969, p. ix; and Anatole Demidoff1994.
Note of 7 August 1945 by Mrs. Margaret French
Cresson, his daughter, in the archives of the
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative
Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
!3 File note by Clare Vincenr dated 16 August 1963,
in the archives of the Department of European
Sculprure and Decorative Arts.
14 Strahan 1883-84, vol. 1, p. 14; and Crowninshield
1941, p. 39-
The annotated copy is in the New York Public
Library, New York City, given by the Estate of
Samuel Isham. For the careers of Crosby and Jarves,
see American National Biography 1999, vol. 5,
pp. 782-83 (entry by Thomas A. McMullin), and
vol. 11, pp. 875-76 (entry by Rhoda E. A. Hackler).
For the vase in Windsor, see Hare 1965, pp. 261-62,
fig. 155A.
two sofas and eight armchairs, one of which
is the present piece.' Many of the details
reflect the designer's sensitivity to all aspects
of the room's decor. One of the most
intriguing of these is the similarity between
the sides of the sofas and the pattern of the
inlaid border of the wooden floor.2 Like
most display furniture, all ten pieces would
have been placed against a wall. The details
of the show covers and the ornaments on
the front, such as the sphinxes looking for-
ward from the arm supports and the lion
mascarons on the armrests, give the furni-
ture a ponderous grandeur; however, the
chairs, which are indeed extremely heavy,
95

227

Fig. 130. Design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for the Museum's armchair, 1826-28. Pen and
ink drawing. Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.
have casters and can be moved—belying
their monumentality and very much to the
astonishment of the viewer, who can thus
appreciate them from all sides.
Until recently there was much confusion
as to how many examples of the chairs of
the former suite were still in existence.3 The
situation is now thought to be as follows.
The Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und
Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg currently dis-
plays two chairs in the Schinkel Pavilion at
Schloss Charlottenberg, Berlin,4 and there is
a further example in storage at Schloss
Charlottenburg. 5 The Kunstgewerbemuseum
in Berlin owns two chairs, and there is
another example, which has possibly retained
much of its original upholstery under a later
show cover, in the Danske Kunstindustri-
museum in Copenhagen.6 Therefore, it seems
that seven chairs (including the Museum's
piece) have survived, leaving one example as
well as the pair of sofas unaccounted for.
It is generally acknowledged that the
Museum's chair is the prototype for the
series and was made under the architect's
supervision. 7 It retains most of its original
gilding and the original casters, and, in
addition, the decorative parts, such as the
fully three-dimensional sphinxes and the flat
relief ornamentation, are carved in wood
following traditional chairmaking tech-
niques. Molds were later made of these ele-
ments in lead, zinc, iron, and composite
mass in order that casts might be applied to
the other pieces in the suite.8 As the chair
prototype was one of the most expensive ever
produced, 9 this was clearly done in order to
simplify production and reduce costs. The
use of different materials for the decorative
parts of the later chairs reflects Schinkei's pas-
sion for exploring new production methods.
Schinkei's design for the prototype is
based on an ancient Roman chair depicted
in wall paintings that had been excavated in
Herculaneum in the eighteenth century. 10
The sketch of a related but bolder chair
in the Egyptian taste appears in plate 29 of
Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard
Fontaine's Recueil de décorations intérieures,
of 1801. 11 A closer comparison, however, is
provided by plate 59, fig. 1, in Thomas
Hope's Household Furniture and Interior
Decoration, of 1807, a publication well
known to the German architect. Hope's and
Schinkei's interpretations clearly follow the
ancient paintings, even to the extravagantly
conceived but structurally weak armrests. If
Schinkei's chairs are picked up by the arms
rather than moved on their casters, the thin
armrests and their fragile supports may break.
A regilding of the repaired areas is then
inevitable. This must have happened to the
Museum's example before it was acquired.' 2
Schinkel made no fewer than 252 design
drawings for Prince Karl's furnishings. 13
He chose the cabinetmakers Karl Wanschaff
and Johann Christian Sewining to execute
them. 14 Two preparatory drawings for the
chair—a silhouette and a frontal view—
have survived (see fig. 130). They show that
Schinkel had originally planned to use owls,
symbols of wisdom in ancient Greece and
attributes of Athena, as armrest supports;
however, he later substituted sphinxes. These
half-human, half-leonine creatures were in
antiquity often depicted in monumental and
funerary contexts. Regarded as repositories
of arcane wisdom in ancient Greek mythol-
ogy, they were believed also to be monstrous
and bloodthirsty.' 5 Gradually they lost their
aura of malevolence and were envisaged as
enigmatic creatures. In postclassical art they
have beautiful female faces and breasts, as
on this chair.CD The motif reflects Schinkei's
obsession with the ancient Greek world. His
working drawings include detailed views of
the coverings and other textile ornamenta-
tion, enabling the Museum's Objects Con-
servation Department, under the supervision
of Nancy C. Britton, to re-create the sump-
tuous upholstery in 1997-98. 16
 Prince Karl must have appreciated the
beauty and extraordinary design of the set,
for in 1872 he donated one example to the
Hohenzollernmuseum (today, with a differ-
ent show cover, it is in the Kunstgewerbe-
museum, Berlin).17 After his death, in 1883,
much of the rest of the palace's contents was
dispersed. The Museum's chair was acquired
by a member of the Puttkammer family of
Prussia, and it presumably stayed in the
hands of that collector's descendants until
about 1995. The following year, the Mu-
seum was fortunate enough to acquire it.
This famous and fully documented chair
model is rightly considered one of Schinkei's
most accomplished pieces of furniture as
well as a superb example of the late German
Empire style.1 WK
96.
Porcelain table
German (Berlin), ca. 1833-34
Probably designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
(1781-1841); made by the Königliche Porzellan-
Manufaktur, Berlin; Helios and zodiac designs
for the center of the top painted by August von
Kloeber (1793-1864), design for the garland
painted by Gottfried Wilhelm Voelker (1772-
1849); bronze and metal mounts by Bronzeure
Werner und Neffen, Berlin
Hard-paste porcelain, gilded bronze, and yellow
metal; iron and wood as support materials
H. 35V2 in. (90.2 cm), diam. of top 26 in. (66 cm),
diam. of top including frame 31 in. (78.7 cm)
Impressed on the underside of the torus molding
with curling-leaf decoration between the paws on
the base: "16." Incised twice on the shaft: "XII."
Wrightsman Fund, 2000
2000.189
This dazzling table is made entirely of
porcelain with the exception of the reeded
gilt-metal rim with concave moldings
around the circular porcelain top, the
canted triangular gilt-metal base with low
feet, and the gilt-bronze beaded molding
encircling the porcelain curling-leaf decora-
tion on top of the base. There is also an iron
column that acts as a spine, disguised by
four porcelain acanthus-leaf sleeves fitted
one above the other, set off by gilded metal
moldings.<:D The gilding of the porcelain sur-
1. Sievers 1942, pp. 213-14, 218; Sievers 1950, p. 36,
fig. 39; Hampel 1989, pp. 22-23, 2 ^ 2 , nos. 55-58;
"Recent Acquisitions" 1999, p. 43 (entry by Wolfram
Koeppe); and Stiegel 2003, figs. 91 (drawing), 92
(armchair), and p. 556, no. 248.
2. Hedinger and Berger 2002, pp. 172-74, no. 46,
figs. 1, 2 (entry by Julia Berger).
3. Even the catalogue of the recent Schinkel furniture
exhibition did not clear up this problem. See ibid.
4. Age of Neo-classicism 1972, pp. 765-66, no. 1633
(entry by William Rieder); Karl Friedrich Schinkel
1981, pp. 86, 299, no. 242 (entry by Winfried Baer);
and Paolini, Ponte, and Selvafolta 1990, p. 203.
5. 1 am grateful to Mechthild Baumeister, Conservator,
Department of Objects Conservation, Metropolitan
Museum, for bringing this unpublished example in
Schloss Charlottenburg to my attention. I also thank
Burkhardt Göres for examining the two chairs at the
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, with me in 1997.
6. Conservator Mechthild Baumeister and I thank
Vibeke Woldbye of the Danske Kunstindustrimuseum
for allowing us (on separate occasions in 1999 and
2000) to examine the Copenhagen chair.
7. "Recent Acquisitions" 1999, p. 43 (entry by Wolfram
Koeppe); and Hedinger and Berger 2002, pp. 172-74,
no. 46 (entry by Julia Berger).
face of the stand is daringly finished in dif-
ferent techniques that create delicate matt
and brightly polished areas, producing the
trompe l'oeil effect of a gilded cast-bronze
support.'
The fabrication of the Museum's spectac-
ular table was made possible by new pro-
duction and color technologies that were
developed after 1832 at the Royal Porce-
lain Manufactory, Berlin, to attract royal
patronage. 2 The catalogue of the Academy
Exhibition of 1834 mentions "a round table
with porcelain top and porcelain foot." 3
Since porcelain tabletops were usually fitted
with supports of metal or carved wood, this
piece would have been a novelty and of
great interest to the public. A Berlin news-
paper devoted much space to the subject in
November of that year: "The porcelain
table with a twenty-six-inch circular top dis-
played at the current exhibition in the
rooms of the Royal Academy is character-
ized not only by excellent color, gilding, and
painting but by a beautifully smooth top . . .
[and this] can also be said of the gilded table
foot. Only the triangular base of the piece is
of gilded bronze: all other [parts], even those
that are difficult to make, such as the ancient
griffins feet, are of porcelain, and [they] tes-
8. Mechthild Baumeister and I have examined the two
chairs in the Schinkel Pavilion as well as the pieces at
the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin. They all incorpo-
rate prefabricated elements.
9. Stiegel 2003, p. 125.
io. Published in the Antichità di Ercolano 1757-92,
vol. 4, pi. 44.
11. Hedinger and Berger 2002, p. 174, fig. 4.
12. Conservation report by Mechthild Baumeister,
January 1996, in the archives of the Department of
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metro-
politan Museum.
13. Sievers 1942, p. 175.
1.4. Ibid., p. 180.
15. Edmunds 1981.
16. On the restoration of the upholstery on the two
chairs in the Schinkel Pavilion, see Arenhövel 1979,
p. 288, no. 571 (entry by Dietmar Jürgen Ponert);
and Karl Friedrich Schinkel 1980, pp. 237-38,
no. 382 (entry by Burkhardt Göres).
17. Schmitz 1923, p. 184.
18. The chair type was first published in 1836; see
Lohde 1836, no. 264. On Schinkei's furniture, see
Göres 1980; and W. Baer 1981.
tify to the skill of the modelers employed by
the manufactory, and to their good fortune
in overcoming the difficulties encountered
during the firing of the porcelain." 4
It is tempting to identify the table men-
tioned in the Berlinische Nachrichten with
the Museum's example. Very likely only two
tables of this size with a porcelain foot were
produced at the manufactory. One was
given by King Frederick William III of
Prussia (1770-1840) to the grand duchess
of Weimar in 1838. It is described in the
king's privy-purse account as having a "top
25 inches in diameter on a porcelain foot
with figurai painting." 5 The same account
book, which the king began to keep in 1811
to record royal gifts within his family (and
their value) as well as diplomatic presents to
foreign dignitaries, mentions in much more
detail an earlier gift by the monarch to
Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna of Russia
(1807-1873). In an entry of 1 June 1835,
the Museum's table is described as follows:
"For Her Royal Highness the Grand
Duchess Helene, 1. Tabletop, circular, 25
inches in diameter, with colored figures, the
subject Helios, on a blue background, sur-
rounded by a zodiac border in brown and
gold on matt gold, the whole background
229
polished gold, on which colored fruits and
flower garlands are intertwined with a blue
band, also colored butterflies and insects."
The price (1,200 taler) was very high, sur-
passed only by that of the monumental
vases the king commissioned as gifts for the
Russian court. 7 The top (fig. 131) is richly
decorated with a central tondo in which
Helios, the sun god, is seen rising up to
heaven from the eastern Ocean in a carriage
pulled by four white horses. 'Tconographi-
cally the signs of the . . . zodiac [in the band
around the tondo] belong to the triumph of
light during the course of the seasons."
The latter are represented by garlands of
the fruits and flowers that flourish as the
year progresses, and these are displayed
on a wreath of vine leaves, autumn's
bounty. The exotic fruits, such as pineap-
ples and pomegranates, possibly symbolize
winter, when they would have been culti-
vated in the fashionable and expensive
greenhouses of the period, a luxury as
extravagant as a table made almost com-
pletely out of porcelain.
As unusual as this lavish present was the
character of the recipient, Helena Pavlovna.
Born Princess Charlotte of Württemberg,
Fig. 1 3 1 . Top of the table.
she married, in 1824, Grand Duke Michael
Pavlovitch, the youngest brother of Alex-
ander I of Russia (1777-1825). She was
one of the most fascinating personalities of artistic entourage. She firmly supported I am very grateful to Achim Stiegel, of the Kunstgewerbe-
museum, Berlin, who researched this table extensively
the period, always a little ahead of her Rubinstein's ambition to found Russia's first before the Museum acquired it. His unpublished notes
time. Socially and politically concerned musical conservatory, whose most famous made it possible to confirm previously vague attributions
with Russia's future, she was a most out- to the various artists involved. I am also grateful to Use
student would be the composer Peter Ilyich
Baer and Winfried Baer, for their generous help with
spoken advocate of the abolition of serf- Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). 10 archival information.
dom, setting a courageous example on her The Museum's table can be attributed
own estates. In 1859, two years before 1. See "Recent Acquisitions" zooo, pp. 40-41 (entry by
to Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Germany's most
Clare Le Corbeiller); and I. Baer zooi, pp. 17-18, fig. 9.
Alexander II (1818-18 81) officially abol- important nineteenth-century architect, 2. Kolbe 1862, p. 254.
ished serfdom, the grand duchess freed who was also a gifted interior designer (see 3. "Ein runder Tisch mit Porzellan Platte und Fuss."
more than fifteen thousand people living on the entry for no. 95). Schinkei's tables are Börsch-Supan 1971, vol. 2., no. 1164 (for 1834).
her estates in the Ukraine. 9 During the distinguished by their strong compositions 4. "Schon der auf der irzigen Ausstellung in den Sälen
der k. Akademie aufgestellte Porzellan-Tisch mit
Crimean War, this mother of five daughters and inventive interpretations of ancient einer runden Tischplatte von sechs und zwanzig Zoll
established a nursing unit, a step that was models, especially the tripod form." Closely Durchmesser, zeichnet sich nicht allein durch aus-
gezeichnete Farben, Vergoldung und Malerei
aggressively opposed by leading military related shaft designs with highly stylized
[aus], . . . was ebenfalls von dem, grösstenteils in
figures. This was the first war in which acanthus leaves arranged in tiers can be seen Biscuit-Porzellen sauber gearbeiteten, vergoldeten
medically trained women served on the on the monumental candelabra of 1831-32 Tischfüsse gilt. Nur der dreikantige Sockel an
demselben ist von vergoldeter Bronze; alles übrige,
battlefield, saving the lives of thousands of in the Schinkel Pavilion at Schloss Charlot- selbst die, so schwierig auszuführenden, antiken,
soldiers. The salon of her residence, the tenburg, Berlin.' 2 It seems that during this gebogenen Greifsfüsse sind von Porzellan, und zeu-
gen für die Kunstfertigeit der bei der Porzellan-
Mikhail Palace—designed by Karl Rossi period in Berlin only Schinkel could coordi- Manufactur beschäftigten Modelleure, und wie
(1775-1849) and the finest example of nate many different craftsmen in the pro- glücklich man Schwierigkeiten beim Garbrennen des
architecture in the Russian Empire style— Porzellans zu überwinden weiss." "Königl. Porzellan-
duction of a large and complex object that
Manufaktur" 1834. Achim Stiegel kindly drew my
was one of the cultural centers of Saint looks magnificent when seen from a distance attention to this review.
Petersburg. The palace now houses the and withstands the close scrutiny of a con- 5. "Platte mit 25 Zoll Durchmesser auf einem porzellan
State Russian Museum. Beginning in 1852, noisseur in its refined details. These qualities, Stand figürlicher Malerei." Account book, Geheimes
the gifted pianist Anton Rubinstein (1829- Staatsarchiv, BRH Rep. 49, G, no. 33.
rarely seen in furniture, characterize this
6. " i . [Eine] Tischplatte rund 25 Zoll im Durchmesser,
1894) w a s P a r t °f the grand duchess's extraordinary table. WK mit coul. Figuren Sujet Helios, auf blauem Fonds,

230
96
umgeben als Medaillon die Himmelszeichen aus
Braun Sc Gold auf mattem Golde, der ganze fond
Glanzgold, darauf coul. Früchte, u. Blumen guiri.
Mit blauem Bande durchwunden, nebst coul.
Schmetterlinge u. Insekten." Ibid., no. 213, p. 88.
W. Baer and I. Baer 1983.
I. Baer 2001, p. 17.
Das Haus Württemberg 1997, pp. 326-27 (entry by
Hans-Martin Maurer); and Willscheid 2002.
10. Das Haus Württemberg 1997, p. 327 (entry by
Hans-Martin Maurer).
11. On Schinkel's tables, see Hampel 1989; Hedinger
and Berger 2002, pp. 108-16, nos. 21-24 (entries by
Elke Katharina Wittich), pp. 214-15, no. 59 (entry
by Franziska Fuchsius); Himmelheber 2002, p. 938,
fig. 2; and Stiegel 2002. There are well-known exam-
ples in the Thurn und Taxis Museum, Regensburg,
and ¡n the Kunstgewerbemuseum and the Schinkel
Pavilion, Berlin. For a newly discovered table with a
porcelain top by the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur,
Berlin, see the catalogue of the Leo Spik sale, Berlin,
27-29 March 2003, lot 604.
. Karl Friedrich Schinkel 1981, p. 315, no. 275 (entry
by Winfried Baer); see also Schinkel's signed cande-
labra design in Sievers 1950, fig. 227. For a stand by
Schinkel with a similar design, see Sievers 1950,
«g. 58.
231
97, 9*-
Sofa and armchair
Italian (Piedmont), ca. 1835
Designed by Filippo Pelagio Palagi (1775-1860);
made by Gabrielle Cappello (1806-1876)
Mahogany veneered with maple and mahogany;
covered in modern silk brocade
Sofa: h. 42 'A in. (108 cm), w. 90 in. (228.6 cm),
d. 3i'/s in. (79.1 cm); armchair: h. 43 in. (109.2
cm), w. 27% in. (70 cm), d. 24 in. (61 cm)
Inscribed in pencil on the frame of the sofa seat:
"Racconigi Camera da letto degli Augusti Sposi."
Stenciled in green on the back of the frame of the
chair are marks that reflect the last inventory
made at the Castello di Racconigi, in 1900:
"3425," with traces of the letters "PPR," erased.
The chair bears the incised stamp "PPR 3425."
Purchase, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by
exchange, 1987
1987.62.1,3
The Museum's sofa and two armchairs, one
of which is illustrated here, are from a suite
of twelve pieces of furniture—consisting of
a daybed (fig. 132), sofa, four armchairs,
and six side chairs—made for the royal bed-
room and adjacent drawing room at
232
Racconigi, the summer palace of the kings
of Sardinia, later to become kings of Italy,
near Turin.' The inscription on the sofa
translates literally as "Racconigi Bedroom
of the August Married Couple," that is, the
Royal Bedroom.
The set was designed by Filippo Pelagio
Palagi, who trained as a painter in Bologna.
After working in Rome and Naples, in 1818
he opened a private art school in Milan. In
1832 he was summoned to Turin by King
Carlo Alberto I of Sardinia (r. 1831-49) to
direct the Scuola di Ornato of the newly
founded Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti
and charged with the renovation and redec-
oration of the royal palaces: the Palazzo
Reale and Racconigi. Palagi designed not
only major features such as ceilings, floors,
and furniture but also candelabra, chande-
liers, and curtain rods, achieving a decora-
tive unity that blended architecture with
the ornamentation and furnishing. The style
of this suite, which might best be called
Italianate Late Empire, incorporates motifs
from as far afield as Etruscan bronzes,
ancient Greek vases, and Biedermeier furni-
ture. In his eclecticism, Palagi announces the
oncoming historicism of the revival styles.
His furniture for the royal palaces repre-
sents Italian craftsmanship of the period at
its highest level. This suite was executed by
Gabrielle Cappello, known as Moncalvo,
with the assistance of Carlo Chivasse.
Moncalvo, who executed many of Palagi's
designs for Racconigi, was a master of inlay
and veneer and headed a large workshop.
He was awarded a medal at the 1851 Great
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All
Nations in London for a set of furniture
from the Etruscan Study at Racconigi.
Other pieces from this suite have been
acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles (the daybed), 2 the Art Institute of
Chicago (two side chairs), 1 the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts (two armchairs), the Detroit
Institute of Arts (side chair), the Virginia
 Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (side
chair),4 and the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London (side chair). 5 The sofa and two
armchairs were acquired by the Metropoli-
tan Museum in 1980 from Heim Gallery,
Ltd., London, together with fragments of
the original blue and silver silk brocade
upholstery, which allowed several of these
museums to collaborate in commissioning
new upholstery from the firm that made the
original fabric: Prelle in Lyons. WR

1. The accession number of the Museum's second

armchair is 1987.62.2.
2. "Acquisitions" 1987, p. 218, no. 118.
3. Zelleke 2002, pp. 55-56, no. 27.
Fig. 132. D a y b e d designed by Filippo Pelagio Palagi and m a d e by Gabrielle Cappello, ca. 1 8 3 5 . 4. Gustafson 1989, p. 414.
M a h o g a n y veneered with maple and m a h o g a n y , covered in m o d e r n silk brocade; 31V2 x 88Vs x 2.7V& in. 5. Wilk 1996, pp. 146-47 (entry by James Yorke).
T h e J. Paul Getty M u s e u m , Los Angeles, copyright © T h e J. Paul Getty M u s e u m .

233
99-
Cabinet

English (London), 1861-62 net we should cut them out and frame them, cabinet served as a perfect vehicle for the
Designed by Philip Webb (1831-1915); and put the rest behind the fire, because it painting by Burne-Jones. Executed on
decorated by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
gives us perfectly the rude execution and leather that has been fastened with brass
(1833-1898); executed by Morris, Marshall,
Faulkner and Company, London barbarous ornament of centuries ago." 7 tacks to the wooden carcase, the composi-
Painted and gilded pine; painted leather; copper The versatile William Morris (1834- tion shows a backgammon-playing couple
hardware; painted iron hinges 1896), one of the leading artists and theorists in a garden. For this, two preparatory draw-
H. 73 in. (185.4 crn), tv. 45'/s in. (114.6 cm), of the late Victorian era, is generally not ings and a watercolor are known (see fig.
d. 2i'/s in. (53.7 cm)
known for his furniture and, with exception 133). TI It has been suggested that the strik-
Rogers Fund, 1926
26.54 of a few pieces for his own use, he designed ing redhead Fanny Cornforth (1824-1906),
very little of it. He relied largely on the talent mistress of the painter Dante Gabriel
of his friend the architect Phillip Webb, who Rossetti (1828-1882), served as model for
At the London International Exhibition of designed furniture for the Red House in the female figure.12
1862 this remarkable cabinet was part of Bexleyheath that he built for Morris and his The technique used here of applying sev-
the first public showing by the newly estab- bride, Jane Burden (1839-1914). The painter eral coats of tinted varnish over silver foil,
lished firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner Edward Burne-Jones decorated some of these creating an almost iridescent effect, was
and Company. 1 It was one of six pieces of early furnishings, and others were embel- already known in the Middle Ages. Burges
painted furniture by the firm included in the lished by Morris himself. The fruitful collabo- is credited with having reintroduced this
Medieval Court of the exhibition, where a ration between various architects and Pre- method of decorating furniture, which was
range of objects in an eclectic mixture of Raphaelite painters on the interior decoration first written up by Theophilus in his treatise
Gothicizing styles was on display. Forming of the Red House, combined with the need De Diversis Artibus.'3 This twelfth-century
the "most conspicuous feature of the that they felt to reform the minor arts, which monk also described how to cover altar and
Court," according to William Burges (1827- were, according to Morris, "in a state of com- door panels with animal hides, and it is
1881), 2 these exhibits reflected a contempo- plete degradation," 9 led them to establish quite possible that the idea of painting on
rary interest in painted furnishings and in their own firm in 1861. leather, regularly practiced by Morris,
particular the influence of Burges himself.3 Webb was also the mastermind behind Marshall, Faulkner and Company, was also
He was an architect and designer with a the Museum's cabinet—his accounts with generated by this medieval manuscript. 14
passion for medieval forms and techniques, the firm recorded an 1861 payment of one The structural members of the cabinet
and his studies resulted in carefully con- pound, ten shillings for the design of the provide a decorative frame, as it were, for
structed furniture with integral painted "chess player" cabinet. 10 Medieval in spirit, the scene on the doors. They are—just as
scenes. 4 Burges praised the pieces by with a refreshingly simple rectilinear shape, are also the cabinet's sides and interior—
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company stylized finials, and honest construction, the embellished with rhythmical patterns of
shown at the 1862 exhibition, 5 but they
were not generally admired. The Ecclesiol-
ogist for June 1862 observed: "Some painted
and japanned furniture, exhibited by Messrs.
Morris, Marshall, and Co., is simply pre-
posterous. We believe that it is meant to be
inexpensive; but some of the affixed prices
scarcely bear out the assertion. We must
totally decline to praise the design or execu-
tion of these specimens. The colouring in
particular is crude and unpleasing, while the
design is laboriously grotesque." According
to a description in the Building News for 8
August of that year, the two doors of the
Museum's lacquered cabinet were beauti-
fully painted with single figures on a punc-
tured gilt background. These pictures were
said to be "decidedly the best of Messrs.
Morris, Faulkner, & Marshall's work," but,
Fig. 133. Edward Burne-Jones, The Backgammon Players, 1861. Pencil heightened with bodycolor.
the critic added, "if we possessed the cabi-
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge (2004).

234
235
geometrie shapes or of two-dimensional
floral ornament that clearly foreshadow the
future wallpaper and textile designs pro-
duced by the firm. Although the company
remunerated Webb during the early years of
its existence for painting and lacquering
leather panels and woodwork, 15 it has been
suggested that Burne-Jones may have been
partly responsible for the decorative work
on the Museum's cabinet. An entry in his
account book with the firm, dating to the
first months of 1862, listed "Gold cabinet:
woodwork £5 painting £ 1 0 . " ' The copper
pulls on the inner drawers, remarkably
modern, are identical to those found on a
cabinet designed by Webb and painted by
Morris, which was also shown at the 1862
exhibition. 17 CD
Priced at thirty guineas, 1 the cabinet
was sold at the time of the exhibition to the
politician Henry Labouchère, later Baron
Taunton (1798-1869). In correspondence
of 11 December 1862, Morris, Marshall,
Faulkner and Company explained that there
was a delay in delivering the cabinet to its
IOO.
Table
Tabletop: Italian (Florence), ca. 1855-60;
Austrian (Vienna), ca. 1865
Designed by Theophil Hansen (1813-1891);
top executed at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure,
Florence; the stand executed by Heinrich
(active ca. 1853-80); the carved elements and the
models for the bronze sculptures made by Josef
Dollischek (active 1865-72) and cast by the firm
of Hagenmeyer
Tabletop: Belgian black marble, semiprecious
stones; stand: painted pine, ebonized
brass; gilt-bronze mounts
Diam. of top 51 in. (129.5 cm
)> h. of stand
3 0 'A in. (77.5 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Spear Jr., 1982
1982.168 a,b
When this table arrived at the Metropolitan,
it was thought to have been made in
Florence about 1880; however, Museum
curator James Parker pointed out that the
"stand for the table top, which does not
resemble [1880s] Italian work, was probably
236
new owner due to minor damage that had
occurred during its transportation to and
from the exhibition. In addition, the painted
surfaces had suffered from dampness during
the exposition, which the company "felt
bound to repair . . . though they are of slight
account in themselves yet it takes some time
for the paint & varnish to dry properly." 19
The cabinet remained with the descendants
of Lord Taunton until 1926, when his grand-
son decided to offer it for sale. A farsighted
and important acquisition, it was purchased
that year by the Museum through the London
dealer R. Langston Douglas. DK-G
1. Wildman and Christian 1998, pp. 74-76, no. 18;
and Gere 1999, p. 27.
2. Burges 1862, p. 4.
3. Crook 1981, pp. 294-300.
4. Wilk 1996, pp. 154-55 (entry by Frances Collard).
5. Burges 1862, pp. 4-5; and Burges 1865, p. 76.
6. "International Exhibition" 1862, p. 171.
7. "Mediaeval Court" 1862, p. 99.
8. Collard 1996, p. 155; and Parry 1996b, p. 165,
nos. J.3, J.4 (entries by Frances Collard).
9. Written by Morris in a letter of September 1883 to
stand: made at about the same time in Vienna,
where both table top and stand were in the
the early years of the twentieth century." 1
Recent research has focused on the stand;
Diibell
the quality of its design and the subtle execu-
tion point to Theophil (Theophilus Edvard)
Hansen, one of the most important archi-
tects of the second half of the nineteenth
century. After studying at the Academy in
fruitwood;
Copenhagen, Hansen won a scholarship in
1838 and traveled to Berlin, where he
became an admirer of architect and designer
Karl Friedrich Schinkei's work (see the
entries for nos. 95, 96). Following a stay in
Munich, Hansen embarked on a study tour
of Italy and Greece, before settling in Vienna
in 1846. There he helped construct several
public buildings, including the museum of
arms and armor at the Viennese arsenal.
Hansen soon became one of the most sought-
after architects in the Austrian capital.
the model-maker and gilder Andreas Scheu
(1844-1927), who was one of the pioneers of the
Austrian Social Democratic movement. Quoted in
Wildman 1984, p. 126. See also Parry 1996a, p. 138.
10. Lethaby 1935, pp. 40-41.
i r . One of the drawings, in the Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge, is illustrated here. The watercolor is in
the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; it is illus-
trated in Wildman and Christian 1998, pp. 73-74,
no. 17. The other preliminary drawing, in a private
collection, is illustrated in Harrison and Waters
1989, p. 49, no. 54.
12. Wildman and Christian 1998, pp. 73, 76, nos. 17,
19. Jane Morris was previously said to have been the
model; Johnson 1979, p. 53, no. 29.
13. Collard 1996, p. 156; Parry 1996b, pp. 172-74,
nos. J.18, J.t9 (entries by Frances Collard).
14. Theophilus 1979, p. 26.
15. Lethaby 1935, p. 41.
16. Wildman and Christian 1998, p. 75, no. 18.
r7. Wilk 1996, pp. 158-59 (entry by Frances Collard).
18. Burges 1862, p. 4.
19. This letter is in the Archives of the Metropolitan
Museum. The cabinet stood in the corridor at
Quantock Lodge, Somersetshire, the house built
by Lord Taunton in 1857. It was inherited by his
daughter, Mrs. Stanley, and sold by his grandson,
Captain Stanley. A statement by Captain Stanley
providing this information is also in the Metro-
politan's Archives.
Together with Friedrich von Schmidt and
Heinrich von Ferstel, he was part of the tri-
umvirate that dominated Viennese architec-
ture in the 1860S and 1870s. 2 During these
years he created the Wiener Stil (Vienna
Style), a distinguished and elegant interpreta-
tion of High Renaissance art. He also helped
design the famous boulevard known as the
Ringstrasse. After the Austrian Parliament
(1873-83), Hansen's best-known creation
may be the imposing Golden Hall at the
Vienna Musikverein, of 1867-69, in which
the Vienna Philharmonic performs its annual
concert on New Year's Day, an event that has
been televised around the world for decades
and has acquainted millions of music lovers
with Hansen's magnificent architecture.
During the 1860s Hansen was mainly
concerned'with the interior decoration of
two grand Viennese houses, the Palais
Todesco and the Palais Epstein and Ephrussi.
His patrons were wealthy men who wanted
to showcase their possessions (which sym-
bolized their accomplishments) in the artis-
tically decorated reception rooms of their
splendid mansions. 3 The owner of the Palais
Todesco, like his colleagues S. M. von Roth-
schild and Baron Jonas Königswarter, was a
powerful Austrian banker and member of
the Vienna stock exchange. 4 These elites
moved in what has been called a "second
society,"5 a different world from that of the
old Austrian aristocracy. Wealth was its
basis, and its lifeblood was the practice of
unregulated capitalism. In the private office
of Eduard Todesco, directly over his desk,
was a fresco, The Allegory of Trading. For this
sophisticated patron of art, wealth was not
only the means to acquire the beautiful things Fig. 134. Theophil Hansen,
that he wanted but an aspect of his identity. Design for a Table in the
Salon of the Palais Todesco,
The Museum's table stood in one of the ca. 1865. Engraving in
most important public rooms in the Palais Gewerbehalle (Stuttgart),
no. 2 (1866).

237
Todesco, the Salon, which was located
between the Ballroom and the much smaller
Boudoir.7 The Salon was the scene of intimate
concerts, as is suggested by the music-making
putti on the table's base, and on occasion
served as a drawing room where the ladies
played cards and socialized while the gentle-
men visited the Billiards Room to enjoy
smoking, alcoholic beverages, and other
amusements. The eight floral compositions on
the tabletop probably marked the places of
participating card players.CD The table is part
of an ensemble that was specifically created
for the Salon by Hansen (see fig. 134). In
1866 the suite was described as one of
Hansen's finest creations in the "modern"
style. The unifying elements are the vase-
shaped legs of the chairs and table and the
bronze figures decorating them.9 Not much is
known about the Viennese court cabinet-
maker Heinrich Dübeil, who made the stand;
some very diverse furniture by him exists,
documenting his workshop's flexibility.10
The Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the stone-
workers' manufactory that made the top,
was founded in 1588 by the Medici family
IOI.
Cabinet (armoire)
French (Paris), 1867
Designed by Jean Brandely (active 1855-67);
made by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1811-
ca. 1885); mounts and large central plaque by
Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910)
Oak veneered with cedar, walnut, ebony, and
ivory; silvered bronze mounts
H. 93V4 in. (238 cm), w. 59'A in. (151 cm),
d. 23 Ys in. (60 cm)
Incised at the bottom edge and at the lower left
of the large plaque, respectively: "BRANDELY
DIEHL FREM1ET" and "E. FREM1ET."
Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson
Gift, 1989
1989-197
When the prototype for this cabinet, now in
the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris,
was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle
in 1867, the reaction of the British Royal
Commission was not at all favorable:
"Some heavy work by Diehl, containing
238
in Florence. Late Renaissance tables by the
Opificio with pietre dure (hardstone mosaic)
tops supported on carved-wood vase-shaped
stands with putti decoration could have
influenced Hansen." The 1860s, when the
table is first recorded, were years of dra-
matic political change on the Italian penin-
sula. Tuscany had been ruled by the house
of Hapsburg-Lorraine since 1765. After the
uprising under Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-
1882), Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of
Hapsburg-Toscana had to leave Tuscany,
which became part of a unified Italy. It is
likely that this tabletop was bought shortly
before i860, possibly as a souvenir of some
northern visitor's grand tour; many travelers
purchased the famous pietre dure panels and
had them mounted on stands as console or
center tables by cabinetmakers at home. A
similar eclectic table is depicted in a portrait
of Emperor Francis I of Austria (1768-
1835) by Friedrich von Amerling (1803-
1887),' 2 and there exist several examples
of pietre dure tops on later stands in the
Chinese (Blue) Salon at Schönbrunn Palace,
in Vienna.' 3 WK
metal bas-reliefs by Fremiet, is an invention,
though, probably, the visitor will not care to
see such work repeated." 1 Perhaps the pub-
lic would not have liked to see more of this
kind of furniture, but Diehl must have been
very pleased with the results because he
ordered a second, nearly identical, cabinet
for himself, the present example, now in the
Museum's collection. 2
Born in Steinbach, Hesse, Diehl moved
to Paris in 1840. There he started a work-
Fig. 1 3 5 . Detail of the projecting underside of the central plaque on the cabinet, inscribed with the
n a m e s of the artists.
1. Metropolitan Museum of Art 1983, p. 36 (entry by
James Parker). Parker was following a remark of the
donor to Olga Raggio, then the chairman of the
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative
Arts.
2. Niemann and Fellner von Feldegg 1893, p. 114. See
also Wagner-Rieger and Reissberger 1980.
3. Ottillinger and Hanzl 1997, p. 357.
4. Wagner-Rieger and Reissberger 1980, pp. 240-41.
5. Ottillinger and Hanzl 1997, p. 357.
6. Wagner-Rieger and Reissberger 1980, p. 24T.
7. Ibid., p. 219.
8. Gewerbehalle (Stuttgart), no. 2 (1866); cited in
Ottillinger and Hanzl 1997, pp. 357, 359.
9. Ottillinger and Hanzl 1997, pp. 356, 357, figs. 2 i r - i 3 .
ro. On Dübell, see Himmelheber 1983, p. 28t, n. 484,
figs. 708, 711, 848, 850, 879, 894. For the sculptor
Josef Dollischek, see Kieslinger t972.
i r . La collezione Chigi Saracini 2000, p. 145.
12. Kugler 1995, p. 66.
13. Ibid., pp. n o — n ; for similar pietre dure composi-
tions, see Giusti, Mazzoni, and Pampaloni Martelli
1978, figs. 19, 2-2, 24, 27, 28, 29-31, 34-37,
T97-22I; and Paolini, Ponte, and Selvafolta 1990,
p. 452.
shop that expanded into a large and thriv-
ing establishment specializing in the produc-
tion of luxury objects and small pieces of
furniture decorated with boulle marquetry,
mounted with porcelain and bronzes, or
veneered with costly woods. 3 Diehl partici-
pated in numerous international exhibi-
tions, where his work was usually well
received, and he was awarded, many medals.
For the realization of an ambitious
model that he intended to submit to the
¿39
Paris exposition of 1867, Diehl enlisted the
help of the industrial designer Jean Brandely
and the sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet. Unlike
much furniture of the period, which was
executed in various revival styles, this piece
is truly unconventional in shape. Unex-
pected, too, is its strong expression of French
nationalism. 4 Beneath a sarcophagus-like
top and above two front legs reminiscent of
capitals, the armoire's central plaque of sil-
vered bronze evokes a legendary past. It
depicts the return of King Merovech (d. 458),
leader of the Salian Franks, after defeating
Attila at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields
in 451 and thereby saving Western Europe
from the marauding Huns. Surrounded by
armed warriors, Merovech stands atop an
ox-drawn chariot while the driver urges the
three hesitant oxen to step over the body of
a fallen enemy.
Clearly serving as a triumphal arch, an
openwork frieze frames the round-topped
central plaque and is supported at each
side by cedar-veneered pilasters. Trophies of
Frankish arms and armor, corner mounts of
yoked ox heads, hooves, and fantastic ani-
mals further strengthen the sculptural char-
acter of this highly unusual piece. Q The
talented sculptor Frémiet, known for his
vivid representations of animals and eques-
trian sculptures of historical figures in
bronze, created these mounts as well as the
central relief, on which his name appears
twice (see fig. 135). The artist's fascination
with natural history is clearly expressed in
this work.
Diehl may well have made the first ver-
sion of this model, which is fitted with fifty
interior drawers for the storage of medals,
with Emperor Napoleon III (1808-1873) in
mind.' The victory of King Merovech,
founder of the Merovingian dynasty of
Frankish kings, was a source of national pride
to the French, and a special section devoted
to the Merovingian era was included in the
240
Musée des Souverains established in Paris
by Napoleon III in 1852. 6 A decade later the
emperor decided to install a Gallo-Roman
museum in the old château at Saint-
Germain-en-Laye, subsequently known as
the Musée des Antiquités Nationales. Despite
the overt reference to a decisive moment in
early French history, Napoleon III was not
interested, and the cabinet remained unsold.
Diehl was awarded only a bronze medal in
the category of furniture by the jury of the
exhibition, and considering this an offense,
he refused to accept the award. 7
Not all the criticism, however, was nega-
tive. The precisely executed marquetry bor-
der framing the door as well as the
arabesques on the sides were praised as
magnificent, and the large relief was called
"truly artistic." 9 Particularly positive was the
description by Jules Mesnard in his Les mer-
veilles de l'Exposition Universelle de 1867.10
After commenting favorably on Diehl's
extreme originality, the author expounded
on the Merovingian style of the piece, won-
dering how the artist found models for it
since the art, and especially the furniture, of
this period was practically nonexistent.
Mesnard went on to say that Diehl did not
create a cabinet in the Merovingian manner
but in the spirit, style, and taste of that era.
Praising the correctness of the chariot and
its decoration, the costumes, and the arms
and armor, Mesnard described Frémiet,
who had made equestrian sculptures of a
Gallic chief and a Roman horseman in 1866
for the Musée des Antiquités Nationales,"
as famous for his archaeological veracity.
The author also commented on the unusual
hidden hinges that are enclosed inside the
cabinet once the door is shut. In 1873 t n e
armoire was sent to the international exhi-
bition in Vienna, where again it failed to
find a buyer. Not until a century had passed
did the French government finally acquire it
for the national collections.
This version of the armoire, which Diehl
commissioned for his own use, differs in
some aspects from its prototype. The inte-
rior is fitted as a regular armoire rather than
as a medal cabinet. On the exterior Diehl
made several changes as well, enriching it
with extra mounts, also by Frémiet, in the
shape of trophies of arms placed in the
spandrels of the arch as well as with the fan-
tastic, almost froglike creatures in the cor-
ners below.CD Diehl kept the piece at his
country house at Lagny, east of Paris, until
his death, whereupon Albert Dubosc (1874-
1956), a collector of works by Frémiet,
acquired it for his residence La Roseraie at
Sainte-Adresse.12 Dubosc must have counted
himself lucky to acquire this cabinet with
dramatized central plaque and its innovative
mounts, for it is among a handful of pieces
of furniture that incorporate work by
Frémiet. 13 The Museum purchased it from
descendants of Dubosc, becoming only the
third owner of this most compelling armoire.
DK-G
1. Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition r868,
p. 284, quoted in Hunter-Sriebel 1989, p. 40.
2. "Recent Acquisitions" 1990, pp. 33-34 (entry by
James Parker).
3. D. Ledoux-Lebard 1984, pp. 164-67.
4. Hunter-Stiebel 1989, p. 38.
5. Vitry 1898, p. 67, n. 1.
6. The Musée des Souverains was located in the Musée
du Louvre, in the rooms behind Claude Perrault's
colonnade on the east facade; Second Empire 1978,
p. 104, no. n-23 (entry by Daniel Alcouffe).
7. Hunter-Stiebel 1989, p. 40.
8. Rapports des délégations ouvrières 1869, p. 12.
9. Universal Exhibition 1867-68, p. 151.
10. Mesnard 1867, vol. 1, pp. 178-81.
11. Chevillot 1988, pp. 107, 116-19, nos. 90, 92.
12. Biez 1910, pp. 268, 280, ill. facing p. 252.
13. A smaller cedarwood and walnut humidor cabinet,
incorporating similar mounts by Frémiet, appeared
on rhe Paris art market in 1990. Additional small
boxes for cigars with Frémiet mounts were on the
Paris art market in 2003. Photographs of these pieces
are in the archives of the Department of European
Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum.
I02.

Frame

Italian (Florence), 1870 At the Exposition Universelle of 1867 in identical to the Museum's object (fig. 136). 2
Egisto Gajani (1832-1890) Paris, Egisto Gajani showed various exam- Gajani's works were, according to the com-
Carved and partially gilded walnut; modern
ples of his talent, including two sumptu- mentary, "of rare excellence in execution, and
mirror glass backed with oak
H. 30V4 in. (78.1 cm), w. 22^/4 in. (57.9 cm),
ously sculptured frames that had taken in design prominent among the best of Italy."3
d. 3s/s in. (9.2 cm) nearly a year to complete. 1 Reproduced in Gajani was one of a small group of virtu-
Incised on the frame below the glass: "EGISTO The Illustrated Catalogue of the Universal oso carvers active in Florence and Siena
GAJANI FECE/ FIRENZE 1870" Exhibition, one of these oval frames was during the second half of the nineteenth
Gift of James Parker, in memory of Alfreda
largely composed of luxuriant openwork century. In search of a national style after
Huntington, 1992
1992.317
acanthus scrolls and the other was nearly the unification of Italy in 1861, they worked

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i 241

Fig. 136. A closely related m i r r o r by Egisto
Gajani s h o w n at the Paris Exposition Universelle
of 1 8 6 7 , in The Illustrated Catalogue
Universal Exhibition ( L o n d o n a n d N e w York,
1867-68).
in a manner that was derived from the
Italian Renaissance, and it quickly found
to fourteen craftsmen in 1867. 4 Working
frequently for foreign clients, the artist
designed and executed entire room decora-
tions—furniture as well as smaller objects.
Between 1865 and 1887 he was a regular
participant in the international exhibitions,
where he received a number of awards.
Together with his distinguished colleague
Luigi Frullini (1839-1897), Gajani issued
an undated album of photographs entitled
Panneaux et ornements en bois sculptés.5
These images show that although the artists
at times adopted a very similar manner,
Frullini's work was predominantly charac-
terized by its graceful tendrils and minute
renderings of plants and birds. Gajani's art,
on the other hand, was generally executed
in a bolder style that translated well into the
decoration of larger pieces of furniture as
of the
well as of monumental mantelpieces.
The Museum's oval frame, now fitted as
a mirror, has a winged putto in a contrap-
posto pose standing in a scallop shell as
crest decoration. 6 CD Cords strung with clus-
ters of various fruits and pinecones, carved
almost in the round, descend from the
raised arms of this naked amorino along the
upper edges of the frame. Beautifully con-
trasting with the punched and gilded back-
variation of the one exhibited in Paris in
1867.CD The sensuality of the putto, com-
bined with the fruit garlands that are some-
what reminiscent of the ceramic wreaths by
the Della Robbia family, and the fanciful
creatures and plant ornament, lend the frame
an unmistakably nineteenth-century flavor.
They illustrate clearly that rather than being
a mere copyist, Gajani was a talented artist
who possessed a spirited imagination.
Not only did Gajani use this model, albeit
slightly changed, at least twice but the Sienese
artists Arturo Guidi (1844-1911), Angelo
Querci (1838-1900), and Gaetano Gosi
(1835-after 1892) executed a similar frame in
1870, signaling a certain vogue for this kind
of richly sculptured decorative object in a
Renaissance-inspired style.7
The frame was the gift of James Parker,
an authority on European furniture, curator
at the Museum for four decades, and a cher-
ished colleague, in memory of a close Anglo-
American friend and a wonderful hostess,
Alfreda Huntington, in 1992. 8 DK-G
1. Chiarugi 1994, vol. 2, p. 478.
2. Universal Exhibition 1867-68, pp. 125, 210.
3. Ibid., p. 210.

favor all over Europe and also in America.
Trained in Florence, first under Angiolo Bar-
betti (1805-1873) and subsequently under
Francesco Morini (1822-1899), Gajani
opened his own workshop in Florence in the
early 1860s. It was to become one of the
most esteemed in the city, employing twelve
ground, the high-relief decoration consists
further of a grotesque mask, coiling acan-
thus leaves and flowers, as well as fantastic
dragon-headed creatures with birdlike bod-
ies. A strapwork cartouche below, incised
with the name of the artist and place and
date of origin, shows this frame to be a later
4. Chiarugi 1994, vol. 2, p. 478. See also Esposizione
Universale 1867, pp. 37-38; Gubernatis 1889,
pp. 211-12.
5. The album consists of twenty-six sheets of photo-
graphs. A copy is in the Thomas J. Watson Library
at the Metropolitan Museum.
6. Gere 1999, p. 35.
7. Chiarugi 1994, vol. 1, p. 306, fig. 413.
8. Draper 1994, p. 24.

IO3.

Settee

English (London), 1885 In 1881 Henry Gurdon Marquand (1819- tive work of several American and Euro-
Designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1902), a wealthy banker, Museum benefac- pean artists working under Hunt's direction,
(1836-1912); made by Johnstone, Norman and
tor, and collector, commissioned his friend took until 1888 to complete. For each of the
Company, London
Ebony, boxwood, sandalwood, cedarwood,
the eminent architect Richard Morris Hunt rooms a different historical style was cho-
ebonized mahogany, ivory, mother-of-pearl, and (1827-1895) to design a residence for him sen, with Marquand's art collection as an
brass; covered in modern silk, colored trim in New York City.' Located at the north- integral part of the decoration.
H. 35V2 in. (90.2 cm), w. 58V4 in. (148 cm), west corner of East Sixty-eighth Street and One of the most beautiful and best docu-
d. 28 in. (71.1 cm)
Madison Avenue, Hunt's four-story man- mented rooms of the house was the Greek
Bequest of Elizabeth Love Godwin, 1975
sion in a French transitional style was Parlor, or Music Room, on the main floor,
1975.219a
finished in 1884. Its interiors, the collabora- for which the Dutch-born English painter

242
I03

Fig. 137. Undated photograph of the Music Room at the

Marquand residence, New York City. Nassau County
Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York.

243
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema designed the Fig. 138. Portiere from the Music
classicizing furnishings. Although his artis- Room at the Marquand residence,
New York City, ca. 1885. Ribbed
tic reputation was based on his genre paint-
silk with satin- and stem-stitch
ings of the ancient world, this was not the embroidery in silk and silk-satin
only time Alma-Tadema was to act as appliqués; 102V4 x 41 in. The
designer, for he also created the interiors of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, Rogers Fund, 1996
his two homes in London, noted for their
(1996.330).
highly original and eclectic decoration. 2
The Museum's unusual settee was part of
the seating furniture made for the Marquand
Music Room, which comprised a second,
identical, settee, two smaller ones with curved
backs to be placed in the alcove, a pair of tub-
shaped armchairs, and four side chairs. These
pieces were all similarly carved with ducks'
heads and decorated with scrolling tendrils,
rosettes, stylized palmettes, and adaptations
of the Greek-key motif. The owner's mono-
gram was inlaid in the outer backs of the
chairs. In addition there were two round
onyx-topped tables, a music cabinet, and a
pair of corner display cabinets, as well as the
grand piano with its matching stools.
Alma-Tadema selected the London firm
of Johnstone, Norman and Company to
execute his designs. In a letter to Marquand
in March 1884 he advised: "I have asked
the people who work generally for me &
understand my wishes Messrs. Johnston
[sic] Norman & Co. who do every thing
amongst others for the Prince of Wales, if
such be a recommandation [sic], to write to
you on the subject of your drawing room.
They will execute the things under my direc-
tion &c according to my sketches if you
allow me to mix up with it. I offer this as no
firm will be able to do the thing good
enough without the advice of a specialist." 3
W C. Codman provided working drawings
for the carving, inlay, and embroidery,
under Alma-Tadema's supervision. The
artist kept his patron regularly abreast of
the progress made. In September 1884 he
communicated to Marquand that "the fur-
niture progresses. I have looked at it several
times. We have succeeded in making the
corner of [the] sofa most comfortable as sake that it will please you." 5 By the sum- With its wonderful carved detail and col-
also the easy chair &c I am convinced that it mer of 1885 the set of furniture, with the orful inlays, the furniture clearly reflected
will turn out a success, which is of course exception of the grand piano, was com- Alma-Tadema's interest in and study of clas-
necessary." 4 In April of the following year pleted. Exhibited in July of that year at sical archaeology. In 1863 the artist had
Alma-Tadema's correspondence with Mar- Johnstone's New Bond Street showroom, the traveled on his honeymoon to Italy, visiting
quand in New York included the news that suite, considered befitting "a fairy palace," Rome, Naples, and the excavations at
the furniture was "progressing favorably" was positively reviewed in various contem- Pompeii. Not only did Alma-Tadema make
as well as that "[Johnstone, Norman and porary journals. It was praised as much for measured drawings while in Italy, but over
Company] seem to be pleased with it & as the "quaintness of its design" as for the high the years he also built up an extensive pho-
workmanship I really believe you could not quality of the workmanship and the richness tographic documentation of both Roman
get anything better. I hope for goodness of the materials used.7 and Greek buildings and architectural details

244
that served him for his paintings. Undoubt-
edly, Alma-Tadema drew inspiration from
his photographic archives for the Marquand
furnishings as well. For instance, the shape
of the armchairs (see fig. 137) is freely
derived from stone seats in ancient Greece
of which he owned photographs, 9 while the
ovolo-and-beaded border along the top rail
of the settee and around the top of the
grand piano case is closely related to an
image of an architectural fragment also in
Alma-Tadema's collection.10 Even more strik-
ing is the resemblance of the piano's heavy
front legs, shaped like winged lions, to
Roman marble table supports known as
protomes. The painter may have seen these
during his journeys to Italy, and his photo-
graph archives included at least two similar
images—one from the House of Gaius
Cornelius Rufus and another from the
House of Meleager, both in Pompeii." The
graceful, curving wing and the muscular
body of the lion sheathed by acanthus
leaves can be clearly recognized from this
type of protome. The flowing scrolls and
tendrils, the anthemia and bellflowers, and
the corded, ribbed stalks emerging from
acanthus leaves embellishing the case of the
piano and the pieces of seating furniture can
be traced to the same source. Similar pat-
terns, executed in silk embroidery and
appliqué on green gray rep silk, were used
for the upholstery, curtains, and portieres in
the same room (fig. 138). The colors of the
fabric, with its floral ornament, rosettes,
and Greek-key motifs, clearly reflected those
of the various woods, coral, and mother-of-
pearl of the furniture and piano frames.
Green gray silk, decorated with scrolls and
stylized leaves in gold, also covered the
walls above the marble dado.
Paintings and painted decoration were
an important aspect of the room. Alma-
Tadema had asked Frederic, Lord Leighton
(1830-1896), the best-known classicizing
painter of the day in Great Britain, to create
a painting for the ceiling, and two of Alma-
Tadema's own works were hung on the
walls. In addition Alma-Tadema commis-
sioned Sir Edward Poynter (1836-1919) to
paint the inside lid of the piano, for which
the artist produced The Wandering Minstrels
in 1887.
Widely considered a New York land-
mark in its day, the mansion did not survive
its owner for very long, as it was torn down
in 1912. Even earlier, following Marquand's
death, his art collection was disposed of at
a very successful auction in January 1903
that included the furnishings of the Music
Room. 12 As a result, the furniture and piano
are now divided among various private and
public collections. 13 Although the entire
suite was offered for sale, one of the settees
remained in the possession of the family,
and it came to the Museum in 1975 as a
bequest of Marquand's granddaughter
Elizabeth Love Godwin. At the time it no
longer retained its original show covers or
trimmings, but the materials of the under-
structure remained intact. The location and
width of the original embroidered panels
were clearly visible on the inner back,
denoted by pencil lines and the discol-
oration of the cotton filler cover. œ In an
attempt to supply the settee with covers that
were close to Alma-Tadema's designs, the
Museum had it reupholstered in green gray
silk, with silk-screened panels replacing the
original embroideries, and provided with a
deep fringe as seen in old photographs. 14
DK-G
1. Most of the information in this entry is derived from
Kisluk-Grosheide 1994.
2. On the interiors at Townshend House, near Regent's
Park, where Alma-Tadema lived between 1870 and
1886, as well as those of his house at 17 Grove End
Road, where he subsequently lived, see Treuherz
1997, PP- 45-49, 51-56-
3. Alma-Tadema to Marquand, 2 March 1884;
Allan Marquand Papers, Manuscripts Division,
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections,
Princeton University Library.
4. Alma-Tadema to Marquand, 29 September 1884;
Archives of the Metropolitan Museum.
5. Alma-Tadema to Marquand, 10 April 1885;
Allan Marquand Papers.
6. "Classic Furniture" 1885.
7. "Furniture" 1885. See also "Art in August" 1885,
p. xliii; "Art Notes" 1885, p. 290; and "Furniture
for New York Millionaires" 1885.
8. Tomlinson 1991, pp. 1-6; and Pohlmann 1997,
pp. 111-18.
9. Tomlinson 1991, p. 121; Treuherz 1997, pp. 50-51,
figs. 34, 35.
10. Pohlmann 1997, p. 115, fig. 107.
11. Kisluk-Grosheide 2000b, pp. 54, 56, figs. 10, 11.
12. Catalogue of the Henry G. Marquand collecrion sale,
American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New
York, 23-31 January 1903. The Alma-Tadema furni-
ture was offered as lot 13 64a-f.
13. The armchairs are divided between the collection of
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. See Wilk
1996, pp. 176-77 (entry by Frances Collard). The
music cabinet is in the Chrysler Museum of Art,
Norfolk, Virginia, and the piano is in the Sterling
and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown,
Massachusetts.
14. Gill 2001, pp. 33-43, fig. 2.4.
2-45
Glossary
Rose Whitehill
Cross-references are indicated by the use of
SMALL CAPITALS.
acanthus: an ornament derived from the spiky
leaves of the acanthus plant. It appears on the
Corinthian capital and was a very popular motif
in Renaissance and Baroque carving.
à chassis: a French term used to describe seat fur-
niture with a removable back, seat, and arm pads.
aedicula: a structure resembling a small building,
with columns and PEDIMENT suggesting a shrine.
amaranth: a dense purple-red wood from Guyana
and South America used for VENEER and MAR-
QUETRY and especially popular during the eigh-
teenth century. It is also known as purpleheart or
purplewood.
apron: a shaped horizontal element beneath the
seat RAIL of a chair or settee or under a tabletop.
arabesque: a carved or painted decoration consist-
ing of interlaced and scrolling FOLIATE lines.
athénienne: a small decorative table resembling
an antique tripod, used as a brazier, plant stand,
or washstand.
atlas: a nude or seminude male figure used as a
supporting column.
auricular: in a curving, amorphous style charac-
teristic of Dutch Mannerism, evoking the shapes
of a shell's interior or the lobe and folds of the
human ear.
baluster: a pillar of vaselike outline usually sup-
porting a railing. A series of these shafts is called
a balustrade.
bergère: a French term for an armchair upholstered
between the arms and the seat.
bluing: a technique of ornamenting steel involving
heat, used mainly in the manufacture of swords
and armor.
bois satiné: a South American wood of a deep red
hue popular for VENEER and MARQUETRY espe-
cially during the eighteenth century.
bombé: a French term meaning thrust out; a
rounded or bulging silhouette on the front or
sides of CASE FURNITURE.
boulle work: a type of MARQUETRY perfected by
André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) in which iden-
tically thin sheets of tortoiseshell and brass are
glued and then cut together in a design; the layers
are then combined and applied to the CARCASE of
a piece of furniture. If the brass design is inlaid in
the tortoiseshell, the work is called première par-
tie, and if the tortoiseshell design is inlaid in the
brass ground, the work is called contre partie.
breakfront: descriptive of a piece of CASE FURNI-
TURE in which the central section projects beyond
the side sections.
brecchiated marble: a fine-grained limestone in
which sharp fragments of rock are embedded,
forming a variegated pattern. It is often used for
the tops of tables and COMMODES.
bucranium: a decorative motif of ox skulls, often
with garlanded horns.
bun foot: a flattened ball foot.
bureau brisé: a French term (meaning literally,
"broken desk") for a writing table with a hinged
top that opens or "breaks" across the middle
to reveal a writing surface inside. Fashionable
during the last three decades of the seventeenth
century, this type of desk was supplanted by
the BUREAU PLAT during the early eighteenth
century.
bureau plat: the French term for a writing table
with a flat, often leather-covered top and with
drawers in the FRIEZE.
burl or burr: an abnormal growth on a tree. Its
irregular grain makes it desirable for use as
VENEER.
cabochon: a convex oval or round sculpted orna-
ment resembling an unfaceted gemstone. It is
often set among carved ACANTHUS foliage.
cabriole leg: a furniture leg that curves outward at
the knee, then inward, ending in a scrolled foot.
canapé: a French term for a settee or sofa.
caning: rattan wickerwork used for the seat and
back of chairs.
canted: descriptive of an edge or corner that is
beveled or oblique.
carcase: the framework or body of a piece of
furniture.
cartoon: a full-scale design used as a model or
pattern.
cartouche: an ornament resembling a partly
unrolled sheet of paper or scroll; sometimes an
oval tablet bearing an inscription or armorial
device.
caryatid: a female figure used as a support for a
capital or an entablature.
case furniture: a category that includes bureaus,
bookcases, and any other cabinet piece intended
to contain something.
chasing: the decoration of metal by punching
relief patterns in the surface; the removal of sur-
face blemishes from metal by tooling.
chinoiserie: European imitations of, for the most
part, Chinese art. They are usually more evocative
than accurate.
ciselure: the French term for the CHASING
and finishing given to bronze sculptures and
bronze furniture MOUNTS. The specialist in
this work was called a ciseleur; see also
FONDEUR-CISELEUR.
coffer: a small chest usually intended to hold
papers or precious items; also a recessed panel in
a ceiling, usually one of many—hence the term
"coffered ceiling."
commode: a French term for a low chest of draw-
ers often made in pairs. It was introduced during
the early eighteenth century.
commode à vantaux: a variant of the COMMODE.
Its drawers are enclosed by doors.
commode en console: a cross between a CONSOLE
TABLE and a COMMODE, it is fitted with one
drawer and supported on two CABRIOLE LEGS.
Designed to be attached to the wall, it usually
stands underneath a mirror.
console table: a table placed against or fixed to a
wall, usually without legs in back, and often set
beneath a mirror.
contre partie: see BOULLE WORK.
diaper: a repeated, allover pattern of diamond
or rectangular shapes.
drop front: see FALL FRONT.
ébéniste: the French name for a cabinetmaker
specializing in VENEERED furniture.
écran: a French term for a screen, especially a
fire screen.
encoignure: the French term for a type of low
corner cupboard, often made in pairs.
en suite: a term designating a set of matching
furniture; an ensemble.
escutcheon: a shield or shield-shaped ornament
bearing an emblem or coat of arms; also a metal
plate, often of gilded bronze, used to protect a
keyhole and the surrounding surface of a piece of
furniture.
fall front or drop front: a hinged panel on the
front of a piece of CASE FURNITURE that can be
lowered to form a writing surface. The French
term for fall-front pieces is à abattant.
fauteuil: the French term for an open armchair
with an upholstered back and seat. A version of
this with a straight back is called a fauteuil à la
reine. When the back is curved, such a chair is
called a fauteuil en cabriolet.
147
fauteuil meublant, the French term for a formal
armchair meant to stand against the wall.
festoon: a representation of a floral garland
gathered up at either end and bound with
ribbons.
fillet: in cabinetwork, a plain, very narrow band,
usually a strip of VENEER.
finial: a small ornamental sculpture, often in the
form of an acorn, urn, or flame, placed on top of
furniture or on the cover of a vase.
foliate: in the shape of a leaf.
fondeur-ciseleur, the French name for a specialist
in casting and chasing metal. The members of
the guild of fondeurs-ciseleurs made the bronze
MOUNTS that distinguish much elegant eighteenth-
century French furniture.
fretwork: a decorative band of intersecting hori-
zontal and vertical lines, forming a Greek-key or
meander pattern.
frieze: a continuous, flat, rectagular band under-
neath a cornice or tabletop.
gadrooning: a series of oval beads, lobes, or flutes
used to decorate an edge.
galloon: a braidlike upholstery trim.
gesso: a mixture of plaster of paris, sizing, and/or
glue used to make a base for carved and painted
or gilded ornamentation.
girandole: an elaborate branched candlestick or
candelabrum, in some cases portable, in others
mounted as a wall bracket.
Greek-key pattern: see FRETWORK.
grisaille: decorative painting in monochrome,
usually whites or grays, giving the illusion of relief
sculpture.
gros point: the French term for cross-stitch
embroidery worked on canvas or similar material
on a larger scale than PETIT POINT.
grotesque: a classically inspired ornament that
features fantastic beasts, birds, and humans set
amid scrolling FOLIATE motifs.
guilloche: a braidlike ornament in which two
bands twist in opposite directions around a cen-
tral circle or rosette.
hardware: furniture parts or fittings made of
metal.
harpy: a monstrous creature with a woman's head
and breasts and a bird's claws and wings.
husk: an ear of wheat, often portrayed strung or
suspended in a garland.
inlay: a decorative technique whereby small,
shaped pieces of contrasting wood, ivory, or metal
are set into the wooden CARCASE or frame of
furniture. It differs from MARQUETRY, a VENEER-
ING technique in which the whole surface of the
furniture is covered.
248
jardinière: a French term for a table or stand
intended to hold flowers or plants.
joiner: a craftsman who constructs pieces of furni-
ture from solid wood—such as chairs, tables, and
beds—to be decorated with carving rather than
VENEER.
lambrequin: a carved or painted ornament
imitating draped cloth with tassel or fringe
embellishment.
latticework: see TRELLISWORK.
lobing: see GADROONING.
lozenge: a diamond-shaped figure.
marchands-merciers: eighteenth-century Parisian
dealer-decorators. They not only sold but ordered
and may also have helped to design luxury fur-
nishings, frequently becoming catalysts in the
development of new fashions and decorating
trends.
marquetry: a decorating technique whereby small
pieces of wood or other precious materials (e.g.,
ivory or metal) are arranged on the surface of a
piece of furniture to form a decorative VENEER.
The patterns may include floral or figurative
designs, but if a geometric design is employed, the
technique is called parquetry.
menuisier, a French term for JOINER.
mercer: a dealer in textiles and trim.
mercury gilding: a method of decorating bronze
and other metals with gold. Ground gold (see
ORMOLU) was mixed with mercury and applied
to the base metal, which was then heated over
an open fire. The gold would adhere to the base
metal but the mercury would evaporate. The
process was repeated several times until a
sufficiently thick layer of gold had been formed.
The gilded product might be burnished or was
left matt.
modillion: a small console or bracket, usually in
a series, supporting a cornice.
monochrome: painting in a single hue or color
(see GRISAILLE).
mount: a decorative and sometimes also function-
al metal attachment to a piece of furniture.
ormolu: a French term (or moulu) meaning
ground gold; the gilded bronze used for decora-
tive objects and furniture mounts.
Palladian: influenced by the classical style of
the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-
1580). Palladian furniture is characterized by
the use of such motifs as masks, SWAGS, and
PEDIMENTS.
parcel gilding: a technique of gilding furniture
whereby only the carved ornamentation is gilded.
parquetry: see MARQUETRY.
passementerie: a French term for the trim in gold
or silver lace or braid used to decorate textiles
and upholstery.
patera: a small circular ornament decorated in
low relief, often with a floral or ACANTHUS motif
in the center.
pediment: a triangular structure set above the
cornice of bookcases or cabinets, imitating the
gable over the portico of a classical temple.
petit point: the French term for a diagonal
embroidery stitch called tent stitch, worked on
a smaller scale than GROS POINT.
pier glass: a tall mirror placed on the pier or wall
between two windows.
pietre dure: an Italian term meaning hard stones;
the use of semiprecious stones or colored marble
to create large-scale objects such as vases and
sculpture, or in mosaic form to decorate tabletops
and furniture panels.
plinth: a usually square base for a pilaster or
column.
première partie: see BOULLE WORK.
rail: a horizontal element in the framework of a
chair.
reparure: a French term for the work that is done
to refine the carved decoration on a piece of furni-
ture intended for gilding, after several preparatory
coats of whiting have dulled the carving. It also
includes the addition of new details before the
gold leaf is applied.
repoussé work: the ornamentation of a sheet of
metal produced by hammering it from the under-
side, creating a design in relief'.
rinceau: a scrolling-foliage motif.
ripple molding: a continuous band of small
grooves placed close together to produce an
undulating effect.
rocaille: a French term meaning rockwork. It
originally designated the natural materials used
in grotto and garden decoration, such as shells
and stones. Their irregular, asymmetrical contours
became an important feature of the Rococo style,
with its emphasis on C-curves and fantastic
shapes.
scroll foot: a furniture foot carved into a scroll
or tight S-shape.
show cover: the decorative and often costly top
layer of upholstery on a piece of furniture. Unlike
the UNDER UPHOLSTERY, it is meant to be seen.
slip seat: a seat that can be dropped into and
removed from a chair frame.
splat: the vertical central panel of a chair back
extending from the top RAIL to the seat rails.
splayed: curving or extending outward.
stile: an upright supporting post on a piece of
seating furniture, extending from the foot to the
t o p RAIL.
stippling: ornament creating by punching small
dots on a surface.
strapwork: ornament consisting of narrow inter-
laced bands.
stretcher: a crosspiece that joins the legs of a table
or chair, providing extra support.
swag: a representation of a length of cloth sus-
pended and tied up in a loop at each end.
tambour top: in cabinetwork, a type of flexible
shutter made of thin strips of wood glued to a
fabric backing; often used for the roll tops on desks.
tester: the canopy over a bed. Made of cloth or
wood, it is generally supported on four posts.
trelliswork or latticework: an arrangement of
strips of wood or metal in a woven crisscross
pattern.
trompe l'oeil: a French term meaning "fool the
eye"; giving a three-dimensional effect in a two-
dimensional medium.
trophy: originally, a pile of armor and other spoils
of war commemorating a victory. Later, the attrib-
utes of the arts, sciences, love, pastoral life, and
music might be painted or carved in a similar way
as a purely decorative motif.
under upholstery: that part of the upholstery of a
chair or sofa concealed by a SHOW COVER.
veneer: a thin layer of a superior wood applied to
the CARCASE of a piece of furniture. The carcase is
usually made of a secondary, less fine wood, such
as oak or pine.
verdigris: a blue green pigment, consisting of
copper acetate, which is often dissolved and used
as a stain.
verre églomisé: a plate of glass decorated on the
back with an unfired painted design or gilding.
Vitruvian scroll: a classical ornament consisting
of running scrolls that resemble waves. It is
usually used to decorate the FRIEZE of a table
or other edge.
volute: a spiral, scrolling form, found, for example,
on either side of the Ionic capital.
webbing: wide strips of usually woven material
interlaced and tacked to a chair frame; part of the
invisible UNDER UPHOLSTERY that with the linen
sackcloth on top forms the foundation for the
stuffing of the seat or for the seat cushion.
249
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Index
Page numbers in boldface refer to the main illus-
tration of each catalogue object; page numbers in
italics refer to all other illustrations.
Aa, Pieter van der, La galerie agréable du monde,
98
Abdication of Charles V in Brussels, 1555, The
[fig. 6], i f
Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, 61
acanthus motif, 21, 21, 22n4, 22n7, 48, 49
Accademia Albertini di Belle Arti, Turin, 232
à châssis chairs, 61, 120, 121, 129, 131, 189, 190
Adam, Robert, 184, 196; state bed, I96n8
Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 82n 1 2
Adimari, Fiametta de Donato, 12117
Aesop's Fables, 29
Aga Khan, H. H. Shah Kerim, 14
Aïssé, Mlle Charlotte, 96
Aitken, Annie Laurie, Galleries, 4
Akanthusaltäre, 48
À la Couronne d'Or, Paris, 170
Albani, Cardinal Alessandro, 168
Alberti, Leonbattista, De Re Aedificatoria, 20
Alean, Abraham, 201
Alexander I, emperor of Russia, 194, 230
Alexander II, emperor of Russia, 230
Alexander VIII, Pope, 46
Alexandra, queen of Edward VII of England, 130
Alexandra Iossifovna, Grand Duchess, 170-71
Alhambra, Granada, Court of the Lions, marquetry
resembling arcades, 14
 l'Honneur de Messieurs Charles et Robert
(Gimbel Collection) [fig. 120], 202, 204
Aiken, Sefferin, side table attributed to, after
William Chambers [fig. 107], 184, 184, 186
Allom, Sir Charles, 94
Allori, Alessandro, portrait of Bianco Cappello,
i5ni3
Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence, 244-45, 2 45n2; set-
tee [no. 103], 242-45, 243, 243
Almeida, Paul, collection (Madrid), 14
Alscot Park, Warwickshire, 146
altar clock (Johann Valentin Gevers; Johann
Andreas Thelot) (Munich), 81
Amalienburg hunting lodge, Nymphenburg
Schlosspark, furniture for (François Cuvilliés;
Johann Joachim Dietrich), 102, 107
Amerling, Friedrich von, portrait of Francis I of
Austria, 238
Amerongen Castle, the Netherlands, cabinets,
tables, and candlestands (attributed to Jan van
Mekeren), 78, 78n3, 7 8 m l
Ammanati, Bartolommeo, 22
Amsterdam, 40, 76
Ancaster, dukes of, 124; Peregrine, third duke,
124, 1 26112
Andersen, Carl Christian, Tapestry Room at
Bernstorff Palace (location unknown) [fig. 78],
129
Angerstein, John Julius, i 8 6 n i 4
Angerstein, William, 186
Anglo-Dutch chairs, term, 74
Anhalt-Zerbst family, 193-94
Anne, queen of England, 92
Anne of Austria, queen of France, 35, 37n6
Antin, duc d', 85
Antwerp, 34, 38
Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso and Marco del
Buono di Marco, workshop of, chest attrib-
uted to [no. 2], 4, 10-12, 10, r i , n
Appiani, Giuseppe, 117
Apsley House, London, painting (De Hooch), 39
"arabesque" manner, 85
Archbishop's Palace (former Holnstein Palace),
Munich, commodes, 107, 108114, i o 8 n i 6
architect's table (David Roentgen), 1961116
Argenson, marquis d', 121m
Arkhangelsk, Russia, 194
armadio, 8, 9, 9
armchairs
English, with device of James II [no. 19], 3,
56-57,56,57
English, with Gobelins tapestry covers (John
Mayhew and William Ince) [no. 65],
159-60,160
English, for Grimsthorpe Castle [no. 481,
124-26, 124, 125
English, for state bedroom at Burley-on-the-
Hill (attributed to Thomas Roberts)
Ino. 251,72,73
French, resembling throne of King Stanislas
[no. 21], 61-62, 62, 63
French bergère (Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sene;
Louis-François Chatard) [no. 87], 3,
207-10, 208, 2 i o n i o
French fauteuil à la reine, for Grand Cabinet
of Marie Antoinette (Jacques Gondouin;
François Foliot II; Mme Pierre-Edme
Babel; Marie-Catherine Renon) [no. 74],
3, 178-80, 179; bergère from same set
(New York), 178-80, 180111
French fauteuil à la reine, from "Marie-
Antoinette Set" (Georges Jacob) [no. 78],
189-92, 190, 191
French fauteuil à la reine, for Palazzo Ducale,
Parma (attributed to Nicolas-Quinibert
Foliot, possibly after Pierre Contant
d'Ivry) [no. 46], 2, 119-21, 120, 121
French fauteuil à la reine, for Tapestry Room,
Bernstorff Palace (Nicolas-Quinibert
Foliot) [no. 50], 129-30, 131
French fauteuils, for Saint-Cloud (Jean-
Baptiste-Claude Séné), 208, 2ion3
German, Empire style (designed by Karl
Friedrich Schinkel; probably made by
Johann Christian Sewining and Karl
Wanschaff) [no. 95], 226-29, 227; design
for [fig. 130], 228
German, from Schloss Seehof, 153, I54n6,
i54"9
Italian (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello) [no. 98], 232-33, 233
Southwest German fauteuil à la reine [no. 47],
122, 123
See also hip-joint armchairs
armoire, term, 66. See also under cabinets
Art Institute of Chicago
chairs with verre églomisé, 214
side chairs (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello), 232
Artois, comte d', 216
Artois, comtesse d', commode in apartments of,
180-81, 182, i 8 3 n i 2
"Art Treasures Exhibition" (London, 1932), 60
"Art Treasures Exhibition" (New York, 1955),
ri6
Aske, North Yorkshire, Gobelins tapestries, 160
athéniennes, 166
jardinière (after Jean-Henri Eberts) [no. 69],
166, 167, 216
perfume burner (Jean-Henri Eberts) |fig. 971,
166, ¡66
washstand design (attributed to Charles
Percier) [fig. 125], 216, 216; models after
(made by Martin-Guillaume Biennais):
Napoleon's washstand (Paris), 218, 2i8n9;
washstand |no. 91], 216-18, 217; wash-
stand (Fontainebleau), 216-18
atlas motif, 46, 47
Attila, 240
Au Chasteau de Vincennes, Paris, n 6 , i i 6 n n
Audience Chair of the Elector of Bavaria
(Munich), 122
Audran, Claude, Les Douze Mois Grotesques,
tapestries after, 991111; engravings after, 98,
99ml
Audran, Jean, 99111 1
Augsburg, 42, 53, 81
Augustus II (the Strong), king of Saxony and
Poland, 61
Augustus of Saxe-Coburg, Prince, 192
Austrian Parliament, Vienna, 236
Avisse, Jean, I22n6
Babel, Mme Pierre-Edme, armchair with carving
by [no. 74], 3, 178-80, 179
Bacchus motif, 42, 431110, 185, 186
Bache, Jules S., collection, 3, 188
Baden, grand dukes and margraves of, collection
of, 122, I23n5
Baden-Durlach, Karoline Luise, margravine of,
I76ni8
Badminton House, Gloucestershire, 128; Chinese
Bedchamber (fig. 77], 126, 126-28, I28n8
Baen, Jan de, group portrait of Hague city council
members, 60, 60116
Baillie-Hamilton, Mrs. Mary Gavin, 152
Bailly, Jacques, allegorical vignettes, 60
Baldock, Edward Holmes, 3 7 ^ 7
balloon motif |figs. 119, 120], 202, 202, 204
Baptistery, Florence, 20
Barberini, Antonio, 28
Barberini, Cardinal Francesco, 3on5
Barberini, Monsignor Francesco, 28
Barberini, Maffeo (Urban Vili), 28-29, 30, 3on5
Barberini cabinet [no. 9], 28-30, 29, 29
Barberini family, 28-29, 30, 3on5
Barbetti, Angiolo, 242
Bardin (carver), 206
Bardou, Gaspard-Marie, 178
Baroli, Jean-Pierre, 133
Baths of Caracalla, Rome, 25
Bauer, Nikolaus, n 8
Baumgartner, Melchior, cabinets for Munich
court, 42, 43117
Baumgartner, Melchior, workshop of, collector's
cabinet [no. 13], 2, 40-43, 40, 41, 42
Baumgartner, Ulrich, cabinets for Philipp
Hainhofer, 42
Bavaria, Elector of, Audience Chair, 122
Bavarian Electoral household, 102
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, 136
altar clock (Johann Valentin Gevers; Johann
Andreas Thelot), 81
collectors' cabinets (Melchior Baumgartner),
42, 43117
commode (David Roentgen) [fig. 104], 180,
181, 181, 182-83, i 8 3 n i 2
console table, 136, 136m
Bayerische Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser,
Gärten und Seen, Munich, carvings from
Schloss Seehof wall brackets, I54n6
Bayerlein, Fritz, painting of Green Salon, Schloss
Seehof, 122
Bayreuth, Princess Elisabeth Sophie Friedericke
von, 136
Beatty, Edith Chester, 204
Beaufort, Charles Noel, fourth duke of, 126, T28
Beaufort, duchess of, 126-28
Beaufort, ninth duke of, 128
Beauvais Manufactory, tapestry from, 125, 126,
129, 129, 130, i3on4, i3on5, 131
Becker, Baroness Renée de, collection, 204
Beckford, William, 210
bed, English chinoiserie [fig. 77], 126, 128. See
also state beds
Bedford, fourth duke of, 155
bedrooms
Chinese, Badminton House [fig. 77], 126, 128
"Cov'd" or "Wrought," Houghton Hall
[fig. 531,88, SS
state bedroom, Burley-on-the-Hill [fig. 43],
72,72
state bedroom, Het Loo Palace, near
Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 64, 72
beeldenkast [no. 10], 31-34, 31, 32, 33, 34n5,
3 41116
bee motif, 28, 29, 29, 3on5
Belton House, Lincolnshire, cabinet (attributed to
Jan van Mekeren), 78n3, 7 8 m l
Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire, chandeliers
from, 84, 85n2
Benneman, Guillaume, 145, 1 4 6 m l , 206
secretary [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
writing table (Waddesdon Manor), 145, i 4 6 n i o
Bérain, Jean, 52, 81; writing desk [no. 17], 5,
50-53,5°, 51,52
Berchem, Nicolaes, engravings after, 98
Bergamo, Fra Damiano da, after Jacopo Barozzi
da Vignola, Guicciardini table, 25nio
bergère, term, 207. See also under armchairs
Bernheimer, L., Munich, 107, i o 8 n i 4
Bernini, Gianlorenzo, 46; baldachin, Saint Peter's,
29,90
Bernstorff, Andreas Peter, 129-30
Bernstorff, Baron Johann Hartwig Ernst, 129
Bernstorff Palace, Copenhagen, 129-30; tapestry
room [fig. 78], 129-30, 129, i3on6
Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris, 85
Biedermeier style, 221, 222
Biennais, Martin-Guillaume, 216, 220
athénienne (after a design attributed to
Charles Percier) [no. 91], 216-18, 217
270
medal cabinet with silver decoration by
[no. 92], 218-21, 219, 220
Bietz, Madame de, 37117
Bildhauermöbel, 106
Biller family, candlesticks, i94n3
Bingham, D. G., collection, Utrecht, 34
Birmingham, England, mounts from, 176m8,
i83ni6
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, England,
drawing for The Backgammon Players
(Sir Edward Burne-Jones) [fig. 133], 234,
234, 2 3 6 m l
Bleak House, Newport, 141
bleu turquin marble, 181
Bliss, Mr. and Mrs. George T , 180
Bliss, Susan Dwight, 3
Blondel, Jacques-François, plan of Hôtel de
Toulouse [fig. 112], 190, 190
Blumenthal, Ann Payne, 3, 2 i o m 8
Blumenthal, George, 3, 177, 210
Boccaccio, Giovanni, Decameron, i 6 n i
Boccapaduli, Margherita Gentili, portrait of
(Laurent Pécheux) [fig. 98], 168, 168
Bode, Wilhelm von, 12, 20
Bohr, Michael, 30
bois des Indes, 175, 176ni6
Boizot, Louis-Simon, secretary with gilt-bronze
mounts modeled by [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
bonheurs-du-jour, 156-58, 157,158, 158m
Bonzanigo, Giuseppe Maria, 197-98; console
table attributed to [no. 81], 197, 197, 197-98
bookcase on stand, from Palazzo Rospigliosi
[no. 331,4,90,91
Borghese, Cardinal Scipione, 186
Borromini, Francesco, 90
Boucher, François, 176m 5
Beauvais tapestries after, 129, 129, i3on4
Gobelins tapestries after, 124, 124, I26n3,
159-60, 160
Boughton House, Northamptonshire, desk
(Martin Carlin), 158
Bouillat, Edme-François, secretary on stand with
porcelain plaque by [no. 71], 170-71, 171
Boulle, André-Charles, 51, 53, 55, 66, 70, 78, 85,
86, 106
bureau plat, 8 5
cabinet attributed to [no. 23], 66-68, 66, 67
Design for a Cabinet [fig. 40J, 66, 66
Boulle, André-Charles, workshop of, 66-68,
68n 5 , 86, 86n8
"bureaux," 85, 86n2
commode [no. 31], 85-86, 85, 86, 87
sarcophagus-shaped commode, 86n8
boulle marquetry (boulle work; "Sommer mar-
quetry"), 37ni6, 51, 53, 55-56, 56n9, 66, 67,
68, 68n8, 78, 86
contre partie, 54, 67, 68, 71115
première partie, 51, 52, 53, 54, 54, 55, 67, 68,
71115
Bourbon, Louise-Marie-Thérèse de, duchess of
Parma, 120
Bourbon, Louis-Henri de, prince de Condé, 85
Bourbon-Penthièvre, Louise-Marie-Adélaïde de,
190, 192
Bousseux, Louis, i i 6 n n
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham,
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
Brandely, Jean, cabinet [no. 101], 6, 238-40, 238,
239
Brandenburg-Kulmbach, Karl August, margrave
of, 53
Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Margravine Sophie
Caroline von, 15
Breck, Joseph, 57
bridal chests. See chests (cassoni)
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, armchairs,
128118
British East India Company, 111
British Museum, London, 148; medal cabinet
(attributed to William Vile and John Cobb)
[fig. 851,148, 148
Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, chairs for (Thomas
Chippendale), 165
bronze, tax mark, 115
Bronzeure Werner und Neffen, Berlin, porcelain
table with bronze and metal mounts by
[no. 96], 5-6, 229-30, 230, 231
Bruchsal, palace at, carved wood paneling
(Ferdinand Hundt), n o
Brunelleschi, Filippo, 20; Baptistery, Florence,
20
Brustolon, Andrea, design for a looking glass, 48
Brydone, Patrick, 2i5n4
Brympton d'Evercy, Somerset, chandelier (James
Moore and John Gumley), 85, 85115
Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Grenville,
second duke of, 99
Buckingham House (Palace), London, 184, 186,
i 8 6 n i 3 ; West Library, 148
buffet (South German), 56n9
Buffet-Challié, Laurence, 61
bureau bookcase, 96
bureau brisé [no. 17], 5, 50-53, 50, 51, 52
"bureaux" (commodes Mazarines) (André-Charles
Boulle), 85, 86n2
bureaux Mazarins, 5 2
bureaux plats, 52, 85, 175
for Louis XV at Versailles (Gilles Joubert)
[no. 57I, 5, 144-45, 144, 144, 145
for Louis-Henri de Bourbon, prince de Condé
(André-Charles Boulle), 85
See also writing tables
Burges, William, 234
Burghley House, Lincolnshire, corner cupboards
and commodes (John Mayhew and William
Ince), 162
Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, state bedroom
[fig-43], 72, 72, 72n4
Burlington, Lord, 113-14
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 234
The Backgammon Players (Cambridge)
[fig. 1331,234,234
cabinet (Backgammon Players Cabinet)
(no. 991,3,234-36,235
C, tax mark, 115
cabinets
Design for a Cabinet (André-Charles Boulle)
(Paris) [fig. 40], 66, 66
Dutch, with ebony veneer and painted marble
plaques (Heino) [fig. 21], 39, 40
Dutch beeldenkast [no. 10], 31-34, 31, 32, 33
English, with Backgammon Players (Philip
Webb; Sir Edward Burne-Jones; Morris,
Marshall, Faulkner and Company)
Ino. 991,3,234-36,235
French armoire (attributed to André-Charles
Boulle) [no. 23], 66-68, 66, 67
French armoire, in Merovingian style (Jean
Brandely; Charles-Guillaume Diehl;
Emmanuel Frémiet) [no. 101], 6, 238-40,
238,239
 German, monumental cabinet for Prince
Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine (David
Roentgen) (Berlin), 182
Italian, for Cardinal Maffeo Barberini [no. 9],
28-30, 29, 29; related cabinets (Florence;
Mons; Ottawa; Palma de Mallorca), 30
See also cabinets on stand; coffer; collectors'
cabinets; cupboards; mechanical writing
cabinet; medal cabinets; wig cabinets
cabinets de toilette. See wig cabinets
cabinets on stand
Dutch, with floral marquetry (attributed to Jan
van Mekeren) |no. 27], 6, 76-78, 76, 77
English, with seaweed marquetry [no. 24], 3,
68-71, 69, 70, 71
French (attributed to Pierre Gole) (London),
45m 1
French, with ebony veneer [no. 11], 34-37,
35,36
Herter Brothers, 371110
See also bookcase on stand; jewel coffers on
stand; secretaries on stand; showcase on
stand
Cadwalader, John L., 3
Caesar, Julius, 218
Caffiéri, Jacques, 136
Cailleux, Paul, 142
caisson, term, 3 5
Calandrini, Mme, 96
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San
Francisco, table (Bernard van Risenburgh II),
133115
Cambacérès, Jean-Jacques Régis de, 204
Cameron, Charles, 170
Cañabas, Joseph Gegenbach, called, 221
candelabra
French (François-Thomas Germain after Pierre
Contant d'Ivry), 129
German (Karl Friedrich Schinkel) (Berlin), 230
candlestands (guéridons; torchères)
design for (Thomas Johnson), 196
English, with dolphin motif [no. 80], 195,
195-96
German, with gilded-gesso decoration
[no. 38], 101-2, 101, 102
candlesticks (Biller family), 1941x3
Canfield, Richard Albert, 140-41
Cantor, Iris and B. Gerald, Galleries, 6
Capin, Claude-François, 178
Cappello, Bianco, 151113
Cappello, Gabrielle (Moncalvo), 232
Cappello, Gabrielle, after Filippo Pelagio Palagi,
suite for Racconigi, 232-33
daybed (Los Angeles) [fig. 132), 232, 233
sofa and armchair [nos. 97, 98], 232-33,
232,233
Caraman-Chimay, Elisabeth de, 142
Caramoor, Katonah, New York, 104, I05n7
Cardin, Jacques-Claude, 204, 204m4
card tables, 92, 118-19, H 9 n 6
English, crimson lacquered (Giles Grendey)
[no. 39], 1 0 3 - 5 , I 0 3 , i°4
English, with gilded-gesso decoration [no. 34],
92-93, 92, 93
German, with marquetry and carved
decoration [no. 45], 117-19, 117,118
Carlhian, André, 130
Carlhian, Paul, 130
Carlhian et Cie, Paris, 130, 13 on 13
Carlin, Martin, 156, 170
desks (bonheurs-du-jour), 156
jewel coffers on stand, 1 62, i64n4; for
Marie Antoinette, 162
pieces mounted with Sèvres porcelain, 162, 170
secretary on stand (Los Angeles), 170
Carlin, Martin, attributed to
desk (bonheur-du-jour) [no. 63], 3, 156-58,
157, 158
jewel coffer on stand |no. 67], 3, 22, 162-64,
163,164
secretary on stand [no. 71], 170-71, 171
Carlo Alberto I, king of Sardinia, 232
Carlton House, London, 184, 186, 1861113
Carnarvon, earls of, 93
Caroline of Denmark, Princess, 130
Carracci, Annibale, 23, 24
Casaux, marquis de, collection, 209, 2 i o n i 7
Caserta, king's study at, 210, 213
casket. See coffer
Cassel van Doorn, Bertha, 133
Cassel van Doorn, Baron Jean-Germain-Léon, 133
cassoni. See chests
Cathedral of Toledo, sillones de cadera, 14
Catherine II (the Great), empress of Russia, 170,
174, 192-93, 194; desk for (David Roentgen),
T69n3
Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, table [fig. 113],
194, 194
Caylus, comte de, Recueil d'antiquités, 216
center table, Tula ware [no. 79], 192-94, 193
chairs
Anglo-Dutch, 74
Audience Chair of the Elector of Bavaria
(Munich), 122
English, chinoiserie [fig. 77], 126, 128
Italian, sgabello a tre gambe for Strozzi Palace
(attributed to the workshop of Giuliano
and Benedetto da Maiano) [no. 5], 4,
18-20, 18, 19
See also armchairs; side chairs
Chambers, Sir William, 148, 184, 186; side table
after a design by [fig. 107], 184, 184
chambres de balustres, 190
chandelier (attributed to James Moore and John
Gumley) [no. 30], 5-6, 84, 84-85
chantournés en dedans, 61
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire, cabinet (attrib-
uted to Jan van Mekeren), 78n3, 7 8 m l
Charles II, king of England, 68
Charles III, king of Spain, 24
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 14
Charles, Jacques-Alexandre-César, balloon ascent
of [fig. 120], 202, 204
Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, 114
Charles-Alexandre, prince de Lorraine et de Bar,
cabinet for (David Roentgen), 182
Charlotte, queen of George III of England, 186
Charton, Jean, 178
Chatard, Louis-François, daybed, armchair, and
fire screen painted and gilded by [nos. 86-88],
3, 207-10, 207, 208, 209
Château de Beloeil, Mons, Belgium, cabinets, 30
Château de Bizy, Normandy, 192
Château de Castrile, 214
Château de Chantilly, bureau plat for (André-
Charles Boulle), 85
Château de Marly, 50, 66
Château de Saint-Cloud, 79, 188, 207, 209;
furnishings for Marie Antoinette's rooms
commode and secretary (Jean-Henri Riesener)
[nos. 82, 83], 3, 198-201, 198, 199, 199,
200, 201
daybed, armchair, and fire screen (Jean-
Baptiste-Claude Séné; Louis-François
Chatard) [nos. 86-88], 3, 207-10, 207,
208, 209
mechanical table (Jean-Henri Riesener) [no. 77],
3, 177, 187, 187-89, 188, 209, 2 i o n i 4
table in Egyptian style (Paris), 2101115
Château des Tuileries. See Palais des Tuileries
Château de Versailles. See Versailles, Château de
Chatsworth, Derbyshire, cabinets with seaweed
marquetry (attributed to Gerrit Jensen), 71
"Chefs-d'oeuvre de la curiosité du monde" expo-
sition (Paris, 1954), 82
Chelsea porcelain, 3
Chesterfield, earls of, 84
chests (cassoni; marriage chests; bridal chests),
10, 16, 21, 22, 22117
Design for Five Chests |fig. 10], 22, 22
Ferrarese, of Isabella d'Esté, 21
Florentine, with painted battle scene and
Strozzi impresa (attributed to the
workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni di
Tomaso and Marco del Buono di Marco)
I no. 2], 4, 10-1 2, 10, 11, 11
Florentine or Luccan, with scene from Ovid
I no. 41, 16, ¡7, 17; companion piece
(Lucca formerly, now lost), 16, i6n5;
related pair (Philadelphia) |fig. 7], 16, 17
Roman, with carved caryatids on dolphins
[no. 6], 21, 21-22; related chests
(Manchester; Paris), 22117
Chevanne, Claude, 114
Chiccheri, Antonio, 90
Chicheley Hall, Buckinghamshire, side chairs, 88,
88n6
Child, Robert, I96n8
china table [no. 55], 4, 140-41, 141; related designs
(Thomas Chippendale) [fig. 82], 140, 140
Chinese lacquer, 145
chinoiserie, 126, 126, 127, 128m, 173
Chippendale, Thomas, 4,126, I26n9,134, 138,146
China Tables [fig. 82], 140, 140
Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director,
126, 128, 134, 134, I34n2, 138, 140, 140,
146, 192, 196, 196114
Ribband back Chairs |fig. 81], 134, 134
side chair [no. 68], 165, 165; related sets, 165
Chippendale Revival, 134
Chivasse, Carlo, 232
Choisy, Louis XV's bedroom, console table for,
142112
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, 196,196,
196ns
Christian IX, king of Denmark, 130
Christie's, London, 88, 125
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, music
cabinet (Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema), 245ni3
Cipriani, Giovanni Battista, i 8 6 n i 8
ciseleurs-doreurs, 115
Clark, Sterling and Francine, Art Institute,
Williamstown, Massachusetts, piano
(Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema), 245, 2451x13
Claude, queen of Francis I of France, 218
Clement VIII, Pope, 30
Cleveland House, London, 72
clocks
altar clock (Johann Valentin Gevers; Johann
Andreas Thelot) (Munich), 81
long-case clock and clock given in honor of
Wolfram Koeppe (workshop of David
Roentgen), 175116
271
Cobb, John, 146, 148. See also Vile, William, and
John Cobb
Codman, W C , 244
coffer [no. 1 2], 38-40, 38, 39. See also jewel cof-
fers on stand
Coffey, John, 128
coffres à bijoux or coffres-forts. See jewel coffers
on stand
Cohn, Marion E. and Leonard A., collection, 3
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 50
collectors' cabinets, 38
Dutch, with painted marble plaques (Heino)
[fig. 21], 39,40
German, with boulle marquetry (Johann Daniel
Sommer II) (Künzelsau) [fig. 31J, 55,55
German, with ivory veneer (workshop of
Melchior Baumgartner) [no. 13), 2, 40-43,
40,41,42
Colonna, Francesco, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,
216
commedia dell'arte motif, 181, 182, i83n2i
Commelin, Michel-Gabriel, jewel coffer on stand
with porcelain plaque painted by [no. 67], 3,
162-64,163
commodes, 111-12, 146
English, with floral marquetry (Pierre
Langlois) [no. 62], 155, 155-56, 156
English, with gilt-bronze handles (attributed
to William Vile and John Cobb) [no. 58],
146, 147
English, with ram's-head mounts and side
access (attributed to John Mayhew and
William Ince) [no. 66], 161-162, 161
French (Gilles Joubert), 206
French commode à vantaux (Adam Weisweiler)
[fig. 122], 210, 212, 212, 213
French commode Mazarine (workshop of André-
Charles Boulle) [no. 311,85-86,85,86,87
French, with Coromandel lacquer panels
(Bernard van Risenburgh II) [no. 42],
111-12, i n , 112
French, with Japanese lacquer veneers (Jean-
Henri Riesener) [no. 82], 3, 198-201,198,
199
French, with parquetry and figurai mounts
(Charles Cressent) [no. 44], 5, 114-16,
115, 116
German, with satyr-head corner terms
(attributed to François Cuvilliés; Johann
Joachim Dietrich) [no. 40), 105-7,106, 107
German (workshop of David Roentgen)
[no. 75], I75n6, 180-83, 181, 182; related
commodes by Roentgen (London; Munich)
[fig. 104], 180, 181,181, 182-83, i 8 3 n i 2
commodes à vantaux, 180-81, 181, 181, 210, 212
commodes en bas d'armoire, 180
commodes en console, 142, I42n2,143, 206
commodes Mazarines, term, 85
concertina construction, 92, 92, 118
Condé, princes de, 80, 85
Coningsby, Thomas, Baron, 64
console tables, 90
in engraving in J. Mariette, L'architecture
française, i 7 6 n i o
German (François Cuvilliés) (Amalienburg;
Munich), 102
German, with Rococo floral elements [no. 53],
136, 137
Italian, with carved pierced legs (attributed to
Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo) [no. 81], 197,
197, 197-98
272
Constantine Constantinovich, Grand Duke, 171
Constantine Nicolaievich, Grand Duke, 170
Contant d'Ivry, Pierre
armchair possibly after a design by [no. 46],
2, 119-21, 120, 121, I 2 i n 6
candelabra after a design by, 129
contre partie marquetry, 54, 67, 68, 7in5
Cooper, Douglas, 214
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New
York, chair (attributed to Thomas How), 94,
94118
Coornhert, Dirck Volkertsz, after Maarten van
Heemskerck, Interpreting the Dreams of
Pharaoh [fig. 16], 32,32
corner cabinets (encoignures) for Louis XV (Gilles
Joubert), 144
Cornforth, Fanny, 234
Coromandel lacquer, 111-12, i n
Cortona, Pietro da, Allegory of Divine
Providence, Palazzo Barberini, 3on5
Cosmati work, 14
Cotte, Robert de, 190
Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
cassone painting with Throne of Scipio, 14
side table from Great Drawing Room, Gower
House (attributed to Sefferin Aiken after
William Chambers) |fig. 107], 184, 184,
186, i86n7
Cousin, Jean the Younger, woodcut attributed
to, Judith with the Head of Holofernes
[fig- 19], 37
Coventry, countess of, 156
Coventry, earls of, 159; George William, sixth
earl, 155; ninth earl, 160
cradles, 22, 22
Cranmer, Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, 14
credenze, 8, 9, 9
Crépy, Louis fils, engravings [fig. 57], 98, 98
Cressent, Charles, 106, 114, 115-16; commode
[no. 44], 5, 114-16, 115,116
Crimean War, 230
Croóme Court, Worcestershire, 155, 156;
Tapestry Room from [fig. 93], 3, 159-60, r6o
Crosby, John Schuyler, 226
Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland, candlestands,
196115
cupboards
design (Master "HS") [fig. 12], 26, 26
Italian credenza or armadio [no. 1], 8, 9, 9
South German Fassadenschrank [no. 8], 2,
26-28, 27
Curia of Diocletian, Rome, 25
Curtis and Hanson, 85112
curule chair, 12-14
Cuvilliés, François, 106, 107, 174
commode attributed to [no. 40], 105—7,106,107
console tables (Munich; Amalienburg), 102
Livre de diferents dessein de commodes, 106
Livre d'omaments à diverse usages [fig. 65],
106-7
Daguerre, Dominique, 156, 170, 210, 212, 213,
213 n 1 o
Danhauser, Josef Ulrich, 222
Danhauser's K. K. Priv. Möbel-Fabrik, side chair
[no. 93], 221-22, 222, 223
Danske Kunstindustrimuseum, Copenhagen
armchairs (Karl Friedrich Schinkel), 228
lottery-prize writing desk (David Roentgen)
174, i 7 5 n 8
Dante chair, 14
Dauterman, Carl Christian, 6
David, Jacques-Louis, The Loves of Paris and
Helen, 216
daybeds
French, with dragons and crest, n o n 4
French lit de repos or sultane (Jean-Baptiste-
Claude Séné; Louis-François Chatard)
[no. 86], 3, 207-10, 207
Italian (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello) (Los Angeles) [fig. 132], 232,
233
decoupage, 96, 96, 97, 98, 98, 99, 99n5, 99n9
Dei, Benedetto, 8
Delacroix, Eugène, portrait of Louis-August
Schwiter (London), 62
Delaunoy, Etienne, Amsterdam, 34
Della Robbia family, ceramic wreaths, 242
Demidov, Akinfi Nikitich, 224
Demidov, Prince Anatole, 226
Demidov, Count Nikolai, vase commissioned by
[no. 94], 224-26, 224, 225
Demidov family, 224, 225, 226
Demidov Palace (Villa San Donato), near
Florence, 224, 226
Denon, Baron Dominique-Vivant, 218-20
medal cabinet for (Charles Percier) [no. 92],
218-21, 219, 220
Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte, 220,
221
Denver Art Museum, side chair (attributed to
Thomas Roberts), 72m
Derby House, London, 214, 2i5n9
Design for a Jewel Coffer on Stand (French)
[fig. 96], 164, 164
Design for Five Chests and a Cradle (Italian)
[fig. io[, 22, 22
desk (bonheur-du-jour) (attributed to Martin
Carlin) [no. 63], 3, 156-58, 157, 158. See also
bureaux plats; rolltop desks; secretaries; writ-
ing desks; writing tables
Detroit Institute of Arts
jewel coffer, i 7 2 n i o
sacristy cabinet, 81112
side chair (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello), 232
Devises pour les tapisseries du Roy, 60
Devonshire, duke and duchess of, collection,
Chats worth, 71
De Young Museum, San Francisco, settee (canapé)
for Marie Antoinette, i 8 o n i , i8on9
Diehl, Charles-Guillaume, 238-40
cabinet (armoire) [no. 101], 6, 238-40, 238,
239
medal cabinet (Paris), 238, 240
Dietrich, Johann Joachim, 107
commode [no. 40], 105-7, 106, 107
furniture for Amalienburg, 107
Dinglinger, Johann M., Apis Altar (Dresden),
169113
dining rooms
from Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire, 3
from Lansdowne House, London, 3, 165
Dino, duc de, 177
Ditchley House, Oxfordshire, tables for, 113
Dollischek, Josef, table with carved elements and
bronze sculpture modeled by [no. too],
236-38,237
dolphin motif, 21, 22, 195, 195-96, 196, 217,
218, 2 i 8 n n
Doomer, Herman, 40
doors, from Hirth collection, i o 8 n i 5
Dorsch, Georg, 136
Douglas, R. Langston, 236
dowry, 21
dragon motifs, 48, 49, 108, 109
Draper, James David, 214
Du Barry, Marie Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse, 156, 166
coffer on stand commissioned by, 163-64
desk for, 156, 158, 158m
Dübeil, Heinrich, 238; table with stand executed
by [no. 100], 236-38, 237
Dubosc, Albert, 240
Ducerceau, Paul Androuet, 48
Duff, Lady Juliet, collection, 52
Dumfries House, Ayrshire, Scotland, fire screen,
138
Duomo, Florence, The Miracle of the Strozzi Boy,
on the Shrine of Saint Zenobias (Lorenzo
Ghiberti), 16
Dupain, A. P., 166, i66n5
Duplan, Bonnefoy, 202
Durand, Jean-Nicolas-Louis, Recueil et parallèle
des édifices, 216
Dtitasta, Paul, collection, i33n3
Dutch East India Company, 40, 76
Duvaux, Lazare, n i , 112, 142, 145
Duveen, James Henry, 140
Duveen, Joseph, 130, 152h, 171, 1711110
Duveen Brothers, 130, i 3 o n i 3 , I 3 i n i 4 , 158,
171, 189, 192, I92n3, I92n4, 192m 5
Dysart, Lady, portrait of (Thomas Lawrence),
131 n 14
ébénistes, 34,43, 114, 132, 142, 156, 180, 198,
206, 221
Eberlein and McClure, Practical Book of Period
Furniture, The, 141
Eberts, Jean-Henri, 166; athénienne designed by
and athénienne after [fig. 97; no. 69], 166,
166, 167, 216
ebony, 3 4 , 3 7 , 4 0 , 4 3 , 6 4
ebony cabinets, 34-37, 35, 3 6 , 37"3
Echter, Matthias, print of acanthus frame, 48-50
Edict of Nantes, revocation of, 74, 81
Edwards, Ralph, and Margaret Jourdain,
Georgian Cabinet-Makers, 99
Egyptian art, 168
Egyptian taste, 221
medal cabinet (Charles Percier; François-
Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; Martin-
Guillaume Biennais) [no. 92], 218-21, 219,
220
table (Italian) [no. 70], 4, 168-69, 169
Egyptomania, 220, 221
Eichrodt, Ludwig, 221
Ekaterinburg, Russia, lapidary factory, 224
Elizabeth, empress of Russia, 192
Eist, Mrs. Violet van der, 214
Embriachi workshop, Venice, 41
Emery, Michel Particelli d', 186
encoignures (Gilles Joubert), 144
Engelbrecht, Martin, 98
English Baroque style, 64
"English Cabinetmaker." See Roentgen, Abraham
Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, 201
Ermeltraut, Franz Anton, design attributed to, for
Audience Chamber, Franckenstein Pavilion,
Schloss Seehof |fig. 89], 152, 153
Este, Isabella d', 21
Esther theme, 31, 34, 34n3
Etruscan style, 214
Exeter, marquess of, collection, 50
Exeter, ninth earl of, 162
Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1867), 238, 240,
241, 242
Exposition Universelle et Internationale (Brussels,
1910), 94
Fabergé, 192
Fabri de Peirese, Nicolas-Claude, 216
faldistorium, 12
Farnese, Cardinal Alessandro, 23, 24
Farnese Bull, 23
Farnese Hercules, 23
Farnese Palace, Rome, 4, 23-24
Farnese table (Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola;
Guglielmo della Porta; Giovanni Mynardo)
[no. 7], 4, 8, 22114, 23-25, 23, 24-25, 168
Fassadenschrank [no. 8], 2, 26-28, 27
Fassmaler, 106
fauteuils à la reine, term, 189. See also under arm-
chairs
fauteuils meublants, term, 190
Femmes Fortes theme, 3 5
Ferdinand IV, king of Naples, 210, 213; suite
acquired by, with secretaries on stand, com-
mode, and rolltop desk (Adam Weisweiler)
[no. 89; figs. 122, 123], 5, 210-13, 211, 212
Ferdinand IV of Hapsburg-Toscana, Grand Duke,
238
Ferstel, Heinrich von, 236
feuilles d'eau, 178
feuilles de refentes, 178
Feulner, Adolf, 107
Fichet, Alexandre, 145
Figdor, Albert, 18
Figures historiques du Vieux Testament [fig. 19],
35,37
Finch, Lady Charlotte, 72
Fiorentino, Niccolò, 20; medal of Filippo Strozzi
attributed to (Washington, D.C.) [fig. 9], 18, 20
fire screens, 108, 138
English (panel attributed to Thomas Moore)
[no. 54], 138, 139
French, for Marie Antoinette at Saint-Cloud
(Jean-Baptiste-Claude Séné; Louis-François
Chatard) [no. 88], 3, 207-10, 209; copy
with embroidered front panel, 2 i o n n
French, for Marie Antoinette at Versailles
(Jacques Gondouin) (New York), 178-80,
180m
German (Würzburg court workshop; probably
carved by Ferdinand Hundt) [no. 41],
108-10, 109, no
German, with arms of Friedrich Karl von
Schönborn (Ferdinand Hundt) (Würzburg)
[fig- 67], n o , no
Fischer-Böhler, Munich, 119, 122, 136, I36n2,
154
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The
Backgammon Players (Sir Edward Burne-
Jones) [fig. 1331,234,234
Fletcher, Isaac D., 2
Flitcroft, Henry, 113-14; side table [no. 43J, 3,
113,113-14
Flora, 23
floral marquetry, 43, 44, 45, 68, 76, 77, 78, 132,
132,175
Florence, 10, 12, 20
Foley, Lord (Thomas Henry?), collection, 133ns
Foliot, François II, 178; armchair after Jacques
Gondouin [no. 74], 3, 178-80, 179
Foliot, Nicolas, 129
Foliot, Nicolas-Quinibert, 119-20, 129
armchair |no. 50], 129-30, 131
armchair attributed to, possibly after a design
by Pierre Contant d'Ivry [no. 46], 2,
119-21, 120, 121, 12 in6
settee [fig. 79], 129, 130
fondeurs-ciseleurs, 115
Fontaine, Pierre-François-Léonard, 216
Fontainebleau
athénienne, 216, 218
cylinder-top desk for (Jean-Henri Riesener),
189
footstool [fig. 59], 99, 100
Forchhondt, Antwerp, 38
Forestier (probably Etienne-Jean or Pierre-
Auguste), 206
forzieri, term, 21. See also chests (cassoni)
Fowler, Mrs. Harold, 37
frames
Dutch (Johannes Hannart) [no. 20], 58-60,
58, 59; pair to (Amsterdam) |fig. 33], 58,
58,60
Italian (Egisto Gajani) [no. 102], 241-42, 241;
related frame |fig. 1361, 241, 242, 242
See also mirror frame
Francesca, Piero della, 8
Francesco di Giorgio, 8
Francis I, emperor of Austria, portrait of
(Friedrich von Amerling), 238
Francis I, king of France, 30, 3on7, 218
Franckenstein, Johann Philipp Anton von, prince-
bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg, 117, 118,
Í53
Franconia, 136
Frederick II (the Great), king of Prussia, 136
Frederick V, king of Denmark, 129
Frederick VI, king of Denmark, 130
Frederick Ferdinand of Denmark, Prince, 130
Frederick William II, king of Prussia, secretary for
(David Roentgen) (Berlin), 182
Frederick William HI, king of Prussia, 226, 229, 230
Frederick William IV, king of Prussia, 226
Frémiet, Emmanuel, 240
cabinet with mounts and central plaque by
[no. 101], 6, 238-40, 238, 239
humidor cabinets and cigar boxes with
mounts by, 240m 3
French, Daniel Chester, 226
French and Company, New York, 76; card table,
105ml
"French Furnishings of the Eighteenth Century"
exhibition (Toledo, 1933), 171
French Revolutionary auctions and sales of
1793-94, 178, 183, 188, 201, 209
Frick, Henry Clay, 94
Frick Collection, New York
chairs (attributed to Thomas How), 94, 94116
commode and secretary for Marie Antoinette
(Jean-Henri Riesener), 198
Frullini, Luigi, 242
Gage, Sir John, 14
Gairdner, Mrs. Venetia, collection, 146
Gajani, Egisto, 241-42
frame ]no. 102], 241-42, 241
mirror (frame shown in 1867) [fig. 136], 241,
242, 242
Gajani, Egisto, and Luigi Frullini, Panneaux et
ornements en bois sculptés, 242, 242n5
Galerie du Louvre, workshop, 51
galero motif, 28, 29
273
Galle, 145, 1 4 6 m l ; secretary with mercury gild-
ing by [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
Galleria Colonna, Rome, tables, 9on3
Galleria dei Lavori, Florence, 30
gamesters, 92
Garbrand, Adriaan (Adrien Garbrant), 37, 43
Garbrand, Anne, 43
Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, 119-20, 144
Garde-Meuble de la Reine, 202
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 238
Gary, Elbert H., 152
Gaudreaus, Antoine-Robert, medal cabinet, 144
Gaudron, Auburtin, 66
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, cabinet, 34119
George I, king of England, 85
George I, king of the Hellenes, 130
George III, king of England, 148
His Majesty's Grand Medal Case, 148
medal cabinet for (attributed to William Vile
and John Cobb) [no. 59], 148, 148, 149
George IV, king of England, 148; side table for
(probably after a design by John Yenn)
[no. 76), 184-86, r8y, 185
Germain, François-Thomas, after Pierre Contant
d'Ivry, candelabra, 129
Gersaint, Edme-François, 98
Gervais, Elie, and workshop, commode (work-
shop of David Roentgen) with marquetry
after stencil drawings and stamp cuttings by
[no. 75], 182, 181,182, i 8 3 n i 2
gesso. See gilded-gesso decoration
Getty, J. Paul, Museum, Los Angeles
commodes, 107
daybed (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello) [fig. 132], 232, 233
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
secretary on stand, 170, I 7 i n 3
table (attributed to Pierre Gole), 45n8
writing desk (Bernard van Risenburgh II), I33n3
writing table, i 7 2 m o
Gevers, Johann Valentin
altar clock on table-stand (Munich), 81
mirror [no. 29], 81-82, 82, 83
Ghiberti, Lorenzo, The Miracle of the Strozzi Boy
on the Shrine of Saint Zenobias, Duomo,
Florence, 16
Gibbons, Grinling, 50
gilded-gesso decoration, 92-93, 93, 100, 101,
102, 106, 107
gilding, d'or jaune and d'or vert, 204
Gluck, Christophe Willibald, 1831126
Gobelins Manufactory (Manufacture Royale des
Meubles de la Couronne), Paris, 43, 45n8, 50,
51, 54, 61, 81
Jeux d'enfants tapestry covers (after François
Boucher) [fig. 76], 124, 124, 126113
months of the year tapestries, i 3 o n i 4
Story of the King tapestry series (Versailles),
43, 4 5 n 8 , 53-54
tapestries after Claude Audran, 9 9 m l
Tentures de Boucher tapestries, 159, 159-60
Godwin, Elizabeth Love, 245
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 24, 2i5n4; design
for rolltop desk, 172, 175112
gold beaker (Paulus van Vianen), 43ni2
Golden House, of Nero, 216
Goldsborough Hall, North Yorkshire, chairs for
(Thomas Chippendale), 165
Gole, Pierre, 37, 43, 52, 53, 54, 66, 78
ebony cabinets, 37, 43, 45n4
tables for the crown, 43
2-74
Gole, Pierre, attributed to
cabinet on stand (London), 4 5 m l
table [no. 14], 5, 43-45, 44, 45, 53
table (Los Angeles), 45n8
Goltzius, Hendrick, 4 3 m o
Gondouin (Gondoin), Jacques, 178
design for silk-satin brocade for Marie
Antoinette at Versailles [fig. 103], 178,178
suite of furniture for Marie Antoinette at
Versailles, 178-80, 180m; armchair
[no. 74), 3, 178-80, 179
Gonnelli, Anton Francesco, scarabattole, 46
Gosi, Gaetano, 242
Gosselin, Adrien-Antoine, 145, 1 4 6 m l
Gould, Jay, 130
Gouthière, Pierre, i83n2, 213
"gôut Rothschild," 180
Gower House, London, Great Drawing Room,
side tables from (attributed to Sefferin Aiken
after William Chambers) (London) [fig. 107),
184, 184, 186
Gramont, Antoine-Alfred Agénor, duc de, collec-
tion, 112
"Grand Cabinet" with Writing Desk and Mirror
(Versailles) [fig. 28], 52
Grand Dauphin, 9 9 m l
Grand Trianon, Versailles, 50, 85, 201
Gravina family, 214
Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All
Nations (London, 1851), 232
Greber, Josef Maria, 183
Greffulhe, Comte de, collection, 204n6
Greffulhe, Comte Henry de, 142
Grendey, Giles, 103-4
card table [no. 39], 103-5, I 0 3 , i°4
side chair [fig. 6i[, 103, 104, 105
suite for Infantado Castle, Lazcano [fig. 63],
104, 105, 105
Greniers des Récollets (GR), 162
Griffiths, Antony, 218
Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, 124, 125, 126,
I26n2, I26n5, 1261x9
Gruber, Alain, 56m
Gubbio studiolo, 8
guéridons, 43, 101-2, 101, 102
Guicciardini table (Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola;
Fra Damiano da Bergamo), 2 5 m o
Guidi, Arturo, 242
Guild of Saint Luke, Florence, i o
guild system, 26, 40, 102, io2n8, 216
Guinigi family, 16, i6n5
gum water, 98, 99n8
Gustavus III, king of Sweden, 177, 188
Guttenberg, Johann Gottfried von, prince-bishop
of Würzburg and duke of Franconia, works
commissioned from Johann Daniel Sommer II
collector's cabinet [fig. 31], 55,55
wig cabinet [no. 18], 53-56, 54, 55
Hackenbroch, Yvonne, 6
Haechtanus, Laurentius, Parvus Mundus, 42
Hagenmeyer, bronze for table-stand cast by
[no. 100], 236-38, 237
Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, torchères from (after
Thomas Johnson), 196
Hainhofer, Philipp, 42
Halfpenny, William, and John Halfpenny, New
Designs for Chinese Temples, 126
Ham House, Richmond, 141m, I 4 i n 2
Hamilton, duke of, 201
Hamilton, Sir William, 210
Hamilton Palace, South Lanarkshire, Scotland,
25, 113, 201
Hampton Court, Herefordshire [fig. 37), 64, 64
Hanbury, E. R., 72n4
Hannart, Johannes, 60, 6on5
frame [no. 20J, 58-60, 58, 59; pair to
(Amsterdam) [fig. 33], 58, 58, 60
frame for group portrait by Jan de Baen (The
Hague), 60, 6on6
stone fountain in fish market, Leiden (after
Jacob Roman), 60
tomb monument, 6on7
Hannema De Stuers Fundatie, Heino, cabinet
[fig- 211,39,40
Hansen, Theophil (Theophilus Edvard), 236-37;
table [no. 100], 236-38, 237; design for
|fig- -1341,237,238
Harewood, seventh earl of, 165
Harewood House, Yorkshire, 165
Harley and Langs, 128
Harris, M., and Sons, 60
Harvey, Lady, 152
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, 94
Hauré, Jean, 206
Hearst, William Randolph, 34, 64, 99
Hébert, Thomas-Joachim, 142
Heemskerck, Maarten van, 32, 34m6;
interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh, etching
after (Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert) [fig. i 6 | , 32,
32
Heim Gallery, Ltd., London, 233
Helena Pavlovna (née Princess Charlotte of
Württemberg), Grand Duchess, 229-30
Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I of England,
186
Henry IV, king of France, 28, 30
Henry VIII, king of England, 124
Herculaneum, 228
Herrnhuters, 172, 174
Hert, Sallie A., 76
Herter, Christian, 36
Herter, Gustave, 36
Herter Brothers, 36
cabinet on stand, 371110
cabinet on stand restored by [no. n ] , 34-37,
35,36
Herz, Johann Daniel, 9 9 m l
Het Loo Palace, near Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 60
state bedroom, 64, 72
stone vases for garden (Daniel Marot), 60
Heydanus, Adriana Christina, 60113
Heydanus, Karel, 6on3
Heydanus family, 6on3
Highclere Castle, Newbury, Berkshire, 93
Hildesheim Treasure, tripod, 2on4
Hillingdon collection, 158, 162
Himmelheber, Georg, 53
hip-joint armchairs (sillones de cadera; jamugas),
12-14, i4n7
in etching of 1555 abdication scene [fig. 6],
14, 15
Spanish [no. 3], 12-14, I 3 ; related example
[fig- 5], M, '4
Hirth, Georg, collection, 107, i o 8 n i 5
Historisch Museum, The Hague, portrait and
frame (Jan de Baen; Johannes Hannart),
60, 6on6
Hochschild, Gerald, 85n2
Hodgkins collection, tabletop, i83n24, i83n27
Hoe, Mr. and Mrs. Robert, 37
Hoentschel, Georges, collections, 2, 2, 121
Hogenberg, Franz, and Abraham Hogenberg,
Geschichtsblätter, 15
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Count Albrecht von, 53,54
Holland, Henry, 184
Holme Lacy, Herefordshire, 84
Holnstein, Count Franz Ludwig von, 107
Holnstein Palace, Munich. See Archbishop's Palace
Holstein-Gottorp, house of, 193, 194
Hooch, Pieter de, 39, 6on4; A Woman at Her
Toilette with an Officer (London), 39
Hope, Thomas, Household Furniture and Interior
Decoration, 228
Hoppenhaupt, Johann Michael the Elder, 136
horsebone (carving motif), 72
Hôtel d'Elbetif, Paris, 204
Hôtel des Gobelins, Paris, 43. See also Gobelins
Manufactory
Hôtel de Toulouse (Penthièvre), Paris, 190; plan
of (Jacques-François Blondel) [fig. 112], 190,
190
Hôtel Varengeville, Paris, room from, 6
Houghton Hall, Norfolk, 88
"Cov'd" or "Wrought" Bedroom [fig. 53],
88,88
side chair from (attributed to Richard
Roberts) [no. 32], 88, 89; others in suite,
88, 88; related suite, 80, 88n2
House of the Vettii, Pompeii, 25n2
Houthakker, Lodewijk, collection, drawing, 22n8
How, Thomas, 94; attributed to
pedestal |fig. 55], 94.94
side chair [no. 35], 94, 95
Howe, Earl, collection, 146, 146m (below)
Hoyt, Richard, collection, 105
Humbert, Jean-Marcel, 221
Hume, Robert, 201
Humphries, Richard, 64n6
Hundt, Ferdinand, n o
candlestands, 11 o
fire screen [no. 41], 108-10, 109, no
fire screen, with arms of Friedrich Karl von
Schönborn (Würzburg) [fig. 67I, 1 10, ¡10
Hunt, Richard Morris, 242
Huntington, Alfreda, 242
Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, mechanical
table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
Huquier, Gabriel, marquetry scenes after, I75n8,
I76ni5
Hussey, Christopher, 126
Huth, Hans, 1831124
Imperial Glass and Lapidary Works, Saint
Petersburg, I94n2
Indau, Johann, 48
Infantado Castle, Lazcano, Spain, salon furniture
suite (Giles Grendey) [fig. 631, 104, 105, 105
inlay, 68
intarsia, 8, 9, 9
isinglass, 98, 99118
ivory, 41; tinted, 37, 44
Jacob, Georges, 189, 202, 209, 221
armchair [no. 78], 189-92, 190, 191
chairs in "Marie Antoinette Set," 189, 192112
marquise, 192112
side chair [no. 84], 5, 202-4, 202, 203; related
chairs, 204116
Jacob, Henri, 193
Jacob-Desmalter, François-Honoré-Georges, 221;
medal cabinet (after Charier Percier) [no. 92],
218-21, 219, 220
Jacques, Maurice, 159
James II, king of England, 56
jamuga |no. 3], 12-14, x 3
Japanese lacquer, t i l , 127, 198, 199, 200; panels,
142, 143, M I , 212, 212
japanning, 104-5, I 2 ^
Jarves, James Jackson, 226
Jean, Dominique, 155
Jefferson, Thomas, 178, 180
Jenks, Bryan, 156
Jensen, Gerrit, 71; pair of cabinets attributed to
(Chatsworth), 71
jewel coffers on stand (coffres à bijoux)
Design for a [fig. 96], 164, 164
Du Barry commission, 163-64
from Hillingdon collection (attributed to
Martin Carlin) [no. 67], 3, 22, 162-64,
163,164
from Maria Feodorovna's bedchamber at
Pavlosk (Detroit), 1721110
for Marie Antoinette (Martin Carlin)
(Versailles), 22, 162, 164116
Johanna Elizabeth, princess of Holstein-Gottorp,
193
John V, king of Portugal, 114
Johnson, Barbara Piasecka, collection, 1 3 3 ^
Johnson, Thomas, design for a candlestand,
196
Johnstone, Norman and Company, London, after
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, settee [no. 1031,
242-45,243,243
Josephine, empress of France, 218
Joubert, Gilles, 144
commode, 206
encoignures, 144
writing table (bureau plat) Ino. 57], 5, 144-45,
144, 144, -145
Jourdain, Margaret, 99
Journal du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, 144,
176, 187
Juan Carlos I, king of Spain, 14
Judith and Holofernes theme, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37
Judith with the Head of Holofernes (attributed to
Jean Cousin the Younger) [fig. 191,37
Juigné, marquis de, I33n8
Junigl, Georg, 222
Jurande des Menuisiers-Ébénistes, 142
Kane, Annie C , 94, 94115, 94n8
Karl of Prussia, Prince, 226, 228, 229
Kemp, Martin, 20
Kensington Palace, London, chandeliers for, 85
Kent, William, 88, 114
Kingston Lacy, Dorset, seaweed-marquetry cabi-
net, 7in3
Kirtlington Park, Oxfordshire, Dining Room
from, 3
Kistenmakerspand, Amsterdam, 7 8 m
Kloeber, August von, porcelain table with zodiac
designs painted by [no. 96], 5-6, 229-30, 230,
231
Knight, Frank and Rutley, 72n4
Knyff, Leonard, The North Prospect of Hampton
Court, Herefordshire |fig. 37], 64, 64
Koeppe, Wolfram, I75n6
Köhler, Johann, 1541112
Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (Royal
Porcelain Manufactory), Berlin, after a design
probably by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, porcelain
table [no. 96], 5-6, 229-30, 230, 231
Königswarter, Baron Jonas, 237
Kraus, Johann Ulrich, 60
Kreisel, Heinrich, 136, 1541112
Kress, Rush H., i 58
Kress, Samuel H., 3, 158, 189
Kress, Samuel H., Collection, I58n2
Kress, Samuel H., Foundation, 3, 6, 158, 160,
162, 1921x2
Küchel, Johann Jakob Michael, 153
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, works by Karl
Friedrich Schinkel
armchairs, 228, 229
table, 2 3 1 m l
Kunstkammer, 40-41, 42
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, design for armchair
(Karl Friedrich Schinkel), 228, 228
Küsel, Johanna Sibylla, engravings after Jacques
Bailly, 60
lacca povera (lacca contrafatta), 96-99, 96, 97, 98
lacquer, 104-5, I , J , '45
Chinese, 145
Coromandel, 111-12, i n
Japanese, i n , 142, 143, 198, 199, 200, 211,
212, 212
japanned finishes, 104-5, I 2 7 , 12-8
vernis Martin, 144, 145
Lacroix (Roger Vandercruse), 151
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, standing
shelves (William and John Linnell), 128,
I28n2, I28ni5
La Fontaine, Fables, tapestry scenes from, 124
lambrequin motif, 61, 62, 81, 82, 90, 91
Lanfant, Jean-Pierre, 206
Lang, Samuel, 128
Langlois, Pierre, 155, 156113; commode [no. 62],
155, 155-56, 156
Lansdowne House, London
chairs for (Thomas Chippendale), 165
Dining Room from, 3, 165
La Reynière, M. de, 112
La Roseraie, Sainte-Adresse, France, 240
Lasalle, Philippe de, 189
Lascelles, Daniel, 165
Lascelles, Edwin, 165
Latz, Jean-Pierre, 132, 136
Lauderdale, Elizabeth Dysart, duchess of, 141m
laurel motif, 29, 30, 3on5
lavoro alla certosina, 14
Lawrence, Thomas, portrait of Lady Dysart,
I3ini4
Lazcano, dukes of, 104; Don Juan de Dios de
Silva y Mendoza, tenth duke, 104
Lazcano, Maria Francisca Alfonsa de Silva
Mendoza y Sandoval, eleventh duchess of, 104
Le Brun, Charles, 48, 50, 61; tapestries of the
Four Seasons, 60
Le Clerc, Jean, Figures historiques du Vieux
Testament [fig. 19), 35,37
Le Clerc, Sébastien, 62n6; engravings after
Jacques Bailly, 60
Legion of Honor badge, 220
Lehman, Philip, 4
Lehman, Robert, 4, 169
Lehman, Robert, Collection, 4-5, 169; hip-joint
armchairs [fig. 5], 14, 14, 14117
Lehman, Robert, Wing, 4-5, 169
Leidesdorf, Arthur D., collection, 126m
Leighton, Frederic, Lord, 245
Lemmers-Danforth Sammlung, Wetzlar
cabinet, 43
hip-joint chair, I4n4, i 5 m o
2-75
 silver tankard (Jürgen Richels), 43ni2
tripod chair, 201116
Le Moyne, Pierre, La galerie des femmes fortes, 3 5
Lencker family, 42; collector's cabinet with silver
plaques possibly by [no. 13], 2, 40-43, 40, 41,
4^-
Leonardo da Vinci, 8
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, 210
Leo X, Pope, 22
Le Pautre, Jean, 48
Lerchenfeld, counts of, 107
Lerchenfeld Palace, Munich, 107, i o 8 n i 3
Leszczyñska, Maria, 61
Letts, Sydney, 140
Levé, Denis, desk with porcelain plaques painted
by [no. 631,3, 156-58, 157
Leverhulme, Viscount, 25, 113
Lewis and Simmons, Paris, 152
Lignereux, Martin-Eloi, 210, 212
Ligozzi, Jacopo, 30
lily motif, 23, 24-25
linden wood, 98, i54n9
Linnell, John, 126-28; watercolor design, 126,
128113
Linnell, William, 126-28, 128m
Linnell, William, and John Linnell, standing shelf
[no. 49], 126-28, 127
Linsky, Belle, 5, 180
Linsky, Jack and Belle, Collection, 5, 6, 116, 152,
158112, 180
Linsky, Jack and Belle, Galleries, 5, 6
lion motif, 181-82, i 8 3 n i 5 , i 8 3 n i 6
Lippi, Filippino, Annunciation, 8
Litchfield, earl of, collection, 113
livre, value of, 204n4
Lobeck, Tobias, 9 9 m l
Lock, Matthias
album of drawings (London), 113
side table attributed to [no. 431, 3, 113,
113-14
tables, 113
Loewi, Adolph, 104, 105, i o 8 n i 4
London International Exhibition (1862), 3, 234,
236
Lopez-Willshaw collection, Paris, 61
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 56ni4; side
table (after John Yenn), 184, 186, i86n6
Louis XIII, king of France, 35, 68
Louis XIV (Sun King), king of France, 35, 3 7 m 6 ,
43,48, 50-51, 5 2 , 5 3 - 5 4 , 6 1 , 6 6 , 8 1 , 8 5 ,
9 9 m l , 1 0 1 , 102, 132, 1 4 5 , 174, 2 0 7 , 2 1 8 ;
writing desk for (Jean Bérain; Alexandre-Jean
Oppenordt) [no. 17], 5, 50-53, 50, 51, 52
Louis XIV (Louis Quatorze) style, 50-51, 79, 85
Louis XV, king of France, 61, 112, 119, I42n2,
145, 150, 156, 158, 163; writing table for
(Gilles Joubert), 144, 144-45, 144, 145
Louis XV style, 155
Louis XVI, King of France, 162,183, 189, 190, 204
commode for, 180
"royal secretary" for (David Roentgen)
(dismantled), 180, 182, i83n7
secretary for (Guillaume Benneman) [no. 85],
204-6, 205, 206
side chair for use of (New York), 178
Louis XVI style, 155
Louis XVIII, king of France, 145
Louise Elisabeth of France, Madame Infante, 119,
120, 121
Louis-Philippe, king of France, 192, I92n5
Louveciennes, 158, 166
276
Louvre workshops, 50, 51, 52
Lugt, Frits, 62
Luneville, David de. See Roentgen, David
Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, 130
Lyndon Hall, Louisville, 76
Macé, Jean, attributed to, cabinets, 371118
mahogany, 140
Maiano, Giuliano da, cassone and lettuccio, 20
Maiano, Giuliano da and Benedetto da Maiano,
workshop of, attributed to, Strozzi chair
[no. 5], 4, 18-20, 18, 19
malachite, 224
Manchester City Art Galleries, cassone, 22n7
Mann, Sir Horace, 148
Mannheimer, Dr. E, 125
Mannheimer, Fritz, 171
Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne.
See Gobelins Manufactory
marchands-merciers, 42, 114, 116, 142, 163, 210,
212
March Ordinas, Juan, collection, 30, 214, 2i5n9
Marco del Buono di Marco. See Apollonio di
Giovanni di Tomaso and Marco del Buono di
Marco, workshop of
Maria Carolina, queen of Naples, 210
Maria de' Medici. See Marie de Médicis
Maria Feodorovna (née Sophia-Dorothea von
Württemberg; 1759-1828), Grand Duchess
(later empress of Russia) 170, 171, i 7 2 m o ,
193,*94
Maria Feodorovna (née Marie Sophia Frederika
Dagmar of Denmark; 1847-1928), Grand
Duchess (later empress of Russia), 130
Maria Luisa of Parma (later queen of Spain), por-
trait of (Laurent Pécheux) [fig. 72], 120, 120
Marie Antoinette, queen of Louis XVI of France,
162, 164, i69n3, 174, 183, 190, 204, 207,
210; furniture for, 176, 189
armchair (Jacques Gondouin; François Foliot II;
Mme Pierre-Edme Babel; Marie-Catherine
Renon) [no. 74], 3, 178-80, 179
commode and secretary (Jean-Henri Riesener)
[nos. 82, 83], 3, 198-201, 198, 199, 199,
200, 201
cylinder-top desk (Jean-Henri Riesener), 189
daybed, armchair, and fire screen for Château
de Saint-Cloud (Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sene;
Louis-François Chatard) [nos. 86-88], 3,
207-10, 207, 208, 209
jewel coffer on stand (Martin Carlin), 22, 162
mechanical table with sliding top (Jean-Henri
Riesener) [no. 77], 3, 177, 187, 187-89,
188, 209, 2 i o n i 4
mechanical table with top that can be raised
and lowered (Jean-Henri Riesener; Jean-
Gotfritt Mercklein) [no. 73], 3, 176-77,
176, 177
set for bedchamber, Petit Trianon (Georges
Jacob), 204n6
side chair for boudoir, Château de Tuileries
(Georges Jacob) [no. 84], 202-4, 202, 203
"Marie Antoinette Set," 189, 192, I 9 2 n i 5
Marie-Clémentine of France, princess of Saxe-
Coburg, 192, I92n5
Marie de Médicis, queen of Henry IV of France,
28,30,35
Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France (Madame
Royale), 176
Marie-Thérèse-Louise, princesse de Lamballe, 190
Marigny, marquis de, 152
Marot, Daniel, 60, 64, 72, 74, 85
design for mirror frames, 60
Nouveau livre d'orfèvrerie, 85
Oeuvres de Sr. D. Marot, architecte de
Guillaume ¡II, 74
Second livre d'appartements [figs. 38, 44),
64, 74
vases for Het Loo, 60
Marot, Jean, 74
marriage chests. See chests (cassoni)
Marquand, Henry Gurdon, 2, 242, 244, 245; resi-
dence, New York, 242, 245; Music Room
(Greek Parlor), 242-44, 243, 244
marquetry, 51, 68, 175
book-matched, 70, 69, 70
floral, 43, 44, 45, 68, 76, 77, 78, 132, 132, 175
geometric (parquetry), 115, 115
with metal and tortoiseshell. See boulle
marquetry
peinture en bois, 173, 175, 181, 181, 182-83
seaweed, 68, 69, 70, 71, 7in3
Martin, Gilles-François, 206; secretary with
bronze ornaments possibly by [no. 85], 204,
2 0 5 , 206
Martin brothers, 145
Mary II, queen of England, 72, 72n4, 74
Mary Beatrice, queen of James II of England, 56
Master "HS," cupboard, 26
Mayhew, John, and William Ince, 162
commode attributed to [no. 66], 161-162, 161
suite for Tapestry Room, Croóme Court,
159-60, 160; settee and armchair [nos. 64,
65], 159-60, 159, 160
Mazarin, Cardinal Jules, 43, 52, 53, 186; table for
(Pierre Gole), 44, 45ni2
McKim, Mead and White, 2, 121
Meade, George Gordon, 37
Meade, Richard, 37
mechanical tables
for Marie Antoinette, with sliding top (Jean-
Henri Riesener) [no. 77], 3, 177, 187,
187-89, 188, 209, 2 i o n i 4
for Marie Antoinette, with top that can be
raised and lowered (Jean-Henri Riesener;
Jean-Gotfritt Mercklein) [no. 73J, 3,
176-77, 176, 177
for Mme de Pompadour, with sliding top
(Jean-François Oeben) [no. 60], 5, 150-52,
150,151
mechanical writing cabinet ("royal secretary") for
Louis XVI (David Roentgen) (destroyed), 180,
182, i83n7
medal, of Filippo Strozzi (attributed to Niccolò
Fiorentino) (Washington, D.C.) [fig. 9], 18, 20
medal cabinets
English, for George III (attributed to William
Vile and John Cobb) [no. 59], 148, 148,
149, 184; pair to (London) [fig. 8.5], 148,
148; related cabinet, His Majesty's Grand
Medal Case, 148
French, for Louis XV (Antoine-Robert
Gaudreaus), 144
French, in Merovingian style (Jean Brandely;
Charles-Guillaume Diehl; Emmanuel
Frémiet) (Paris), 238, 240
French, probably for Napoleon (Charles
Percier; François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-
Desmalter) [no. 92], 218-21, 219, 220
Medici, Francesco I de', I 5 n i 3
Medici, Lorenzo (the Magnificent) de', 225
Medici, Maria de', 28, 30
Medici bank, 20
Medici court, 43
Medici family, 30, 46, 225, 238
Mehmed II, Sultan, io
Meissonier, Juste-Aurèle, 122; engraving, Projet
d'un trumeau de glace pour un grand cabinet
fait pour le Portugal [fig. 74 [, 122, 122
Mekeren, Jan van, 76, 78, 78n5; attributed to
cabinet on stand [no. 27], 6, 76-78, 76, 77
cabinets, tables, and candlestands
(Amsterdam; London; Amerongen Castle;
Charlecote Park; Belton House), 78, 78n3,
78ml
Mekeren, Jan van (grandson), 76
Melchizedek, 108
Menard, Jean (called Giovanni Mynardo in Italy),
25; table with inlay believed to be by (Farnese
table) |no. 7], 4, 8, 22114, 23-25, 23, 24-25, 168
Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, 43, 44-45,
451H4, 180
menuisiers, 114, 142, 207
menuisiers en ébène, 34. See also ébénistes
Mercier, Louis-Sébastien, 206; Tableau de Paris,
105
Mercklein, Jean-Gotfritt, 177; mechanical table
with a mechanism designed by |no. 73], 3,
176-77, 176, 177
Merovech, king of the Salian Franks, 240
Mesnard, Jules, 240
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Aitken Galleries, 4
American Wing, 3
Cantor Galleries, 6
Department of European Sculpture and
Decorative Arts (ESDA), establishment of,
2-3
Lehman Wing, 4-5, 169
Linsky Galleries, 6; salon, 5
Morgan Wing, 2, 3
Wrightsman Galleries, 5, 6
Michael Pavlovich, Grand Duke, 170, 230
Michaud (sculptor), 206
Michelangelo, 22, 24
Michetti, Nicola, 90; bookcase possibly designed
• by [no. 331,4,90,91
Mikhail Palace, Saint Petersburg, 230
Mills, Charles, 3, 158
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, armchairs (Filippo
Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle Cappello), 232
Mique, Richard, 207, 209
Miroffsky, Wenzeslaus, after François Cuvilliés,
console tables, 102, io2n6
minor fraine [no. i6[, 48-50, 48, 49. See also
frames
mirrors, 48
French, "Grand Cabinet" with Writing Desk
and Minor |fig. 28], 52
German (Johann Valentin Gevers; Johann
Andreas Thelot) ]no. 29], 81-82, 82, 83
Italian (Egisto Gajani) |fig. 136], 241, 242, 242
Molitor, Bernard, 221
Moncalvo. See Capello, Gabrielle
Monnoyer, Jean-Baptiste, engraving of tulip in
Livres de plusieurs paniers de fleurs, 78,
78n9
Montacute House, Somerset, side chairs, 88
Montagu, Elizabeth, 128m
Montefeltro, Federigo da, duke of Urbino,
studiolo of, 8
Montgolfier brothers (Joseph-Michel and Jacques-
Etienne), 204
Monument du Costume, Le, 166
Moore, James, 93, 99
Moore, James, and John Gumley, 85
chandelier attributed to [no. 30], 5-6, 84,
84-85
chandeliers for Kensington Palace, 85, 85115
Moore, Thomas, 138; fire screen attributed to
[no. 54], 138, 139
Moor Park, Hertfordshire, tapestries for, 160
Moravian Brethren, 172, 175114
Moret, Philippe, Moyen-Age pittoresque [fig. 35],
61, 61
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 2, 121, 130, i 3 o n i 2
Morgan Wing, 2, 3
Morini, Francesco, 242
Morley, John, 85
Morris, Gouverneur, 178, i8on9
Morris, Jane Burden, 234, 2361x12
Morris, Robert, 128
Morris, William, 234, 236
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company,
London, 234, 236; cabinet executed by
Ino. 991,3,234-36,235
Muhammad XI (Boabdil), sultan of Granada, 14
Mulliner, Herbert Hall, The Decorative Arts in
England, 99
Munich, guild exemptions, 102
Munich Residenz. See Residenz, Munich
Münster, Count Alexander zu, 68n8
Musée des Antiquités Nationales, Saint-Germain-
en-Laye, 240
Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
cassone, 22n7
design for an athénienne (attributed to Charles
Percier) [fig. 125], 216, 216
Design for a Cabinet (André-Charles Boulle)
[fig. 40], 66, 66
Design for a Medal Cabinet (Charles Percier)
[fig. 126], 220, 220
oval marquetry panels, 183
traveling table, 80
Musée des Souverains, Paris, 240, 240116
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, cabinet (Jean Brandely),
238-40
Musée du Louvre, Paris, 201, 220, 240116
commode (Charles Cressent), i i 6 n 5
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
table in Egyptian style, 210m 5
washstand of Napoleon (after Charles
Percier), 218, 2i8n9
Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de
Trianon, silk for Marie Antoinette, i8on3
Museo Arqueológico, Granada, armchairs, i 5 n i 7
Museo Civico, Belluno, design for a looking glass
(Andrea Brustolon), 48
Museo Correr, Venice, mirror frame, 50
Museo della Fondazione Home, Florence, tripod
chairs, 20m 6
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, collector's cabinet,
42-43
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
commodes (Charles Cressent), I i 6 n 5
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt am Main,
chair with verre églomisé, 214
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg,
cabinet, 34n9
mirror frame, 50
Museum of the City of New York
bergère and fire screen for Marie Antoinette,
178-80
upholstery and trim from furniture for Marie-
Antoinette, 1 80115
Mynardo, Giovanni. See Ménard, Jean
Nancy, France, 61-62
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, 168, 204, 213,
216, 218, 220, 221, 226; washstand of, 218,
218119
Napoleon III, 240
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor,
New York, photograph, 243
National Gallery, London, portrait (Delacroix), 62
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
medal of Filippo Strozzi (attributed to Niccolò
Fiorentino) |fig. 9I, 18, 20
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, cabinet, 30
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
armchairs (Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema),
245m.3
daybed (Giles Grendey), 105118
side chairs (attributed to Richard Roberts),
88
Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, side chair,
76
Nemean Lion motif, 182, i83ni5
Neoclassical style, 175
Nero, Golden House of, 216
Neues Schloss, Bayreuth, 154; console table, 136
Neumann, Balthasar, 11 o
Neuwieder Arbeit, 172, 174, I75n3
Newby Hall, North Yorkshire
chairs (Thomas Chippendale), 165
tapestries (Gobelins), 160
New-York Historical Society
side chair for Louis XVI (Jacques Gondouin;
François Foliot), 178
upholstery and trim from furniture for Marie
Antoinette, i8on5
Nicholas I, Czar, 226
Nieuhof, Joan, Het gezantschap der Neêrlandtsche
Oost-Indische Compagnie, 98
Nieuwe Kirk, Amsterdam, pulpit (Albert
Vinckenbrinck), 34ni6
Normanton Park, Rutland, 126119
Northumberland, first duchess of, 72
Nottingham, Daniel Finch, second earl of, 72,
72114
Nottingham, Heneage Finch, first earl of, 72114
Nuremberg, 37, 42
Nymphenburg Schlosspark, near Munich. See
Amalienburg hunting lodge
Oeben, Jean-François, 144, 145, 150, 155, 156,
187; mechanical table [no. 60J, 5, 150-52,
150,151
Oeben, Marie-Catherine, 156
Office of Works, England, 114
Oldenburg, dukes of, 194; Peter Friedrich
Ludwig, 193, 194, 194x116
Old Testament themes, 35
Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, 224, 238;
tabletop (after Theophil Hansen) |no. 100],
236-38,237
Oppenordt, Alexandre-Jean, 52, 5 3 m l ; writing
desk (after Jean Bérain) [no. 17], 5, 50-53, 50,
51,52
Ordinas, Juan March, collection, Palma de
Mallorca, 30
Orléans, ducs d', 79
Orléans, Elizabeth Charlotte, duchesse d', 79
2-77
Orléans, Louis-Philippe, duc d', 192
Orléans, Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d' (Philippe-
Égalité), 190, 192, 207
Orléans, Philippe, duc d', regent of France, 114
Orléans family, 192
Orpheus theme, 29, 29, 30
Osterley Park, Middlesex
state bed for (Adam), 196118
tapestries (Gobelins), 160
Ottoboni, Prince Cesare Ludovico, 46
Ottoboni, Cardinal Pietro, 46
Oudry, Jean-Baptiste, 129; tapestries after, 129,
1 2 9 , 130, 131
Ouvrard, Gabriel-Julien, 190-92
Ovid, 10, 16, 38
Palacio de Jabalquinto, Baeza, 14
Palagi, Filippo Pelagio, 232
daybed (Los Angeles) [fig. 132I, 232, 233
sofa and armchair [nos. 97, 98], 232-33,
232,233
Palais de Compiègne, secretary for (Guillaume
Benneman) [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
Palais (Château) des Tuileries, 204, 218
facade, 37n5
side chair for (Georges Jacob) [no. 841, 5,
2 0 2 - 4 , 2 0 2 , 203
Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, 204
Palais Epstein and Ephrussi, Vienna, 236-37
Palais Todesco, Vienna, 236-37; table for (Theophil
Hansen) [no. 100], 236-38, 237, 237
Palati March, Palma de Mallorca
show cabinet, 30
side chairs, 214
Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 30115
Palazzo Chigi, Rome, library, 90
Palazzo Colorno, near Parma, inventory, 120,
I22ni2
Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome, 46
Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, inventory, 120,
1221114
Palazzo Ducale, Parma, furniture for, 119-20,
121, I 2 i n 3
Palazzo Guinigi, Lucca, chest (formerly; now lost)
16
Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome, Sala
Egiziana, 168
Palazzo Quirinale, Rome, 120, I 2 i n 5
Palazzo Reale, Turin, 198, 232
Palazzo Rospigliosi, Rome, 90
bookcase for [no. 33], 4, 90, 91
fresco (Guido Reni), 186
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, cabinet, 30
Palladian style, 113, 113, 114
Palmer, George S., collection, 3, 57
Panton, Mary, 124
Parham Park, West Sussex, stools, 99
Parisot, Peter, 138
Parker, George, 105
Parker, James, 4, 6, 90, 136, 236, 242
Parker, James, Charitable Foundation, i8on6
Parma, Louise-Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon,
duchess of, 120
Parpette, Philippe, I58n2
parquetry, 115, 115
Partridge, Frank, London, 94115, I28ni5
Partridge, Frank and Sons, London, 156
Passe, Crispijn van de, Hortus Floridus, 78
pastiglia, 16,17
Paul I, emperor of Russia, 170, 193, 194
Paul VI, Pope, 90
2.7!
Pavlovsk Palace, near Saint Petersburg, 170-71, porcelain-mounted furniture. See Sèvres porcelain
193,194 plaques
center table from |no. 79], 6, 192-94, 193 porcelain table (probably designed by Karl
secretary on stand from (attributed to Martin Friedrich Schinkel) [no. 96], 5-6, 229-30,
Carlin) [no. 71], 170-71, 171 230,231
Paxton, Joseph, 45 Porta, Gugliemo della, 25; table with marble piers
Pécheux, Laurent carved by (Farnese table) [no. 7J, 4, 22n4,
Portrait of Maria Luisa of Parma (1751-1819), 23-25,23,24-25
Later Queen of Spain [fig. 72], 120, 120 portiere, from Music Room, Marquand residence
Portrait of the marchesa Margherita Gentili [fig. 1381,244,245
Boccapaduli [fig. 98], 168, 168 Poynter, Sir Edward, The Wandering Minstrels,
pedestal (attributed to Thomas How) [fig. 55], 245
94,94 Prelle, Lyons, 233
peinture en bois, 173, 175, 181, 181, 182-83 première partie marquetry, 51, 52, 53, 54, 54, 55,
peltae motif, 23, 24-25, 25 67, 68, 71115
Penn House, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, 146 Presle, side chair gilded by [no. 84], 5, 202-4,
Penthièvre, Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de, 202, 203
189, 190, 192 prince-bishops, 108
Percier, Charles, 216 Proust, Marcel, 142
design for an athénienne attributed to [fig. 125], Provence, comte de, 145
216, 216; athénienne after [no. 91], Puttkammer family, 229
216-18,217
Design for a Medal Cabinet [fig. 126I, 220, Quantock Lodge, Somersetshire, 2361119
220; medal cabinet after [no. 92], 218-21, Queen's House, Greenwich, painting for, 186
219, 220 Querci, Angelo, 242
Percier, Charles, and Pierre-François-Léonard
Fontaine, Recueil de décorations intérieures, Racconigi, near Turin, suite for (Filippo Pelagio
228 Palagi; Gabrielle Cappello), 232-33; daybed
Pergolesi, Michelangelo, 162, i62n2; cameo after [fig. 132], 232, 233; sofa and armchair
[fig- 197], 197, 198 [nos. 97, 98], 232-33, 232, 233
Permaine, London, 64 Raggio, Olga, 23, 25
Perry, Marsden Jaseal, 141, I 4 i n 9 Ramoneda (gilder), I22n7
perspectiefje, 39 Raphael, 96
Peter I (the Great), emperor of Russia, 192, 224 Galatea, Villa Farnesina, tabletop decoration
Peter, prince of Holstein-Gottorp, 193, 194 after, 186
Peterhof, Russia, lapidary factory, 224 Logge, Vatican, 22, 216
Petit Trianon, Versailles, i83n5; set for Marie Sala dell'Incendio, Vatican, 168
Antoinette's bedchamber, 204n6 Sala Egiziana, Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne,
Petrini, Antonio, 117 168
Petrus, Jean-Baptiste, 120 Rebecca, Biagio, i 8 6 m 8
Philadelphia Museum of Art Redford, William, 85n2
cassoni [fig. 7], 16, 17 Red House, Bexleyheath, England, 234
commodes, 162 Régence style, 79, 85,114
Philip V, king of Spain, 119 Reign of Terror, 190
Philip of Spain, later duke of Parma, 119, 120 Rembold, Joh. Christoph, 82n8
Philippe-Égalité, 190, 192 Remington, Preston, 99, 184
phoenix motif, 29, 30 Rémond, François, 198, 213, 2 i 3 n i o ; commode
Pictura, 60115 with frieze mounts attributed to [no. 75],
pied, length in inches, 204nio 180-83, 181, 182
pieds de biche, 61, 79, 79 Remondini, Giovanni Antonio, 98
Piero di Cosimo, 16; Hunting Scene and The Reni, Guido
Return from the Hunt, 16 Aurora Scattering Flowers for the Chariot of
Pierre, Jean-Jacques the younger, 158, I58n6; Apollo, 186
jewel coffer on stand with porcelain plaques The Meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne on the
painted by [no. 67J, 3, 162-64, l(>3 Isle ofNaxos, 186; tabletop scene after
pietre dure, 23, 24-25, 44, 237, 238 [fig. io8[, 185, 186
Pillement, Jean, 1761x15 Renon, Marie-Catherine, 178; armchair with
Piranesi, Giovanni Battista, 168, 198; Diverse gilding by [no. 74], 3, 178-80, 179
maniere d'adornare i cammini, 198 reparure, term, 202
pittori di casse, i o Residenz, Ansbach, console table, 136
Plitzner, Ferdinand, 55, 56ni4 Residenz, Munich
Pococke, Dr. Richard, 128 Audience Chair of the Elector of Bavaria,
Poilly, Nicolas de, 78 122
Poirier, Simon-Philippe, 142, 156, 158m, 163, 170 console tables (François Cuvilliés; Wenzeslaus
Poitou, Joseph, 114 Miroffsky), 102, 102115
Poitou, Philippe, 56n5 display cabinet, 107
pomegranate pattern, 10, 11, 12 doors, i o 8 n i 5
Pompadour, marquise de, 5, 111-12, 150, 151; rolltop desk, 174
mechanical table for (Jean-François Oeben) Residenz, Würzburg, 108-10
[no. 60], 5, 150-52, 150, 151 corner settee, 154, I 5 4 n i 2
Pompeii, 25n2, 245 fire screen (Ferdinand Hundt) [fig. 67], n o , no
Residenzmuseum, Munich, mechanical table
(Jean-François Oeben), 152
Reuttimann, Johann Conrad, 48
Revett, Nicholas. See Stuart, James, and Nicholas
Revett
ribbonback chairs, 134, 134, 135
Ricci, Seymour de, 198
Richardson, John, 214
Richelieu, Cardinal, 34, 37n3
Richels, Jürgen, 43ni2
Ridinger, Johann Elias, 98
Rieder, William, 182
Riesener, Jean-Henri, 145, 176, 187, 188-89, 206
commode and secretary [nos. 82, 83], 3,
198-201, 198, 199, 199, 200, 201
corner cupboard, 198, 201
cylinder-top desk, 189
mechanical table with sliding top [no. 77J, 3,
177, 187, 187-89, 188, 209, 2 i o n i 4
mechanical table with top that can be raised
or lowered [no. 73], 3, 176-77, 176, 177
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
armchairs with Gobelins tapestry covers, 125
cabinet and table (attributed to Jan van
Mekeren), 78n3, 7 8 m l
collector's cabinet, 42
ebony cabinet (Pierre Gole), 37, 43, 45114
frame (Johannes Hannart) [fig. 33), 58, 58, 60
mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
secretary (Adam Weisweiler), 2 i 3 n i 2
tripod chair, 20m 6
Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, settees and
chairs with verre églomisé, 214
Ringstrasse, Vienna, 236
ripple moldings, 29, 30, 35, 37, 40, 41, 41
Risenburgh, Bernard I van, 132, I33n7, 142
Risenburgh, Bernard II van, 132, 133, 142
commode [no. 42], 111-12, i n , 112
side table (commode en console) [no. 56],
142, 143
writing table [no. 51], 132-33, 132, 133
Risenburgh, Bernard III van, 112, 142
Robert, Marie-Noël, balloon ascent of [fig. 1 20],
2 0 2 , 204
Roberti, Ercole de', chests, 21
Roberts, Richard, attributed to, side chair
[no. 321,88,88,89
Roberts, Thomas, 72, 88; attributed to
armchair [no. 25], 72, 73
suite with state bed [fig. 43], 72, 72, 7 2 m ,
7 2n4
Roberts, Thomas (son or grandson?), 88
Rockefeller, John D. Jr., 130, I 3 i n i 4
Rockefeller, Martha Baird, 152
Rococo style, 85, 101, 136
Roentgen, Abraham, 106, io8n5, 172, 1761118;
tea chest, 175m
Roentgen, David, 170, 172-74, 180, 182, 183,
193, 1941x16
architect's table for Paul I, I 9 6 n i 6
cabinet for Prince Charles-Alexandre de
Lorraine (Berlin), 182
chairs for Schloss Wörlitz, i83n24
commode (London), 180, 181, 182-83,
i83ni2
commode (Munich) [fig. 104], 180, 181, 181,
182-83, i 8 3 n i 2
desk for Catherine the Great, 169x13
desk for Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, 170
lottery-prize writing desk (Copenhagen), 174,
175118
multifunctional table, 1761110
rolltop desk with chinoiserie marquetry
[no. 72], 172-75, *72,173,174
rolltop desk with floral marquetry [fig. 101],
174, l75, 1831116
"royal secretary" for Louis XVI, 180, 182,
183117
secretary for Frederick William II (Berlin), 182
Roentgen, David, workshop of, 68n8, 174, 183,
18 3 n 1 2
clock, 175116
commode [no. 75], i75n4, 180-83, Ï S I , 182
long-case clock, 175114
oval traveling table, I75n6
Roentgen family, 172
Roger, Pierre, 52
Rogers, Jacob S., 2
rolltop desks (secrétaires à cylindre), 145, 174, 175
design for (Goethe), 172, I75n2
French (Adam Weisweiler) (private collection)
[fig. 123I, 2 1 0 , 2 1 2 , 2 1 3
French, for Louis XV (Jean-François Oeben;
Jean-Henri Riesener), 145
German, with chinoiserie marquetry (David
Roentgen) [no. 72], 172-75, 172, 173, 174
German, with floral marquetry (David
Roentgen) |fig. 101], 174, 175, i 8 3 n i 6
Roman, Jacob, 60
Roman, Pieter, 60
Roman Baroque, 46
Roman Catholic Church, 90
Rome, 90
Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, fifth earl of, 45
Rosen, Walter Tower, 104, i05n7
Rosenberg, Johann Gottfried, 129
Rospigliosi, Prince Gerolamo, 90
Rospigliosi, Prince Giovanni Battista, 90
Rospigliosi family, 90
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 234
Rossi, Karl, 230
Rossignol, J., collection, 82ni2
Rossini, Pietro, 46
Rothenbücher, Hermann, 136x12
Rothschild, Baron Edmond de, collection, 112
Rothschild, Hannah de, 45
Rothschild, Henri de, 204
Rothschild, James A. de, collection, i 4 6 m o
Rothschild, Baron Mayer Amschel de, 45, 180
Rothschild, S. M. von, 237
Rothschild family, style of, 180
Roubo, André-Jacob, L'art du menuisier, 37, 162
Rousseau, Jules-Antoine, 204117
Rousseau, Jules-Hugues, and Jean-Siméon
Rousseau de la Rottière, side chair carved by
[no. 84], 5, 202-4, 202, 203
Rousselot, Jean, trade label |fig. 69], 114, 116,
ii6nn
Royal Academy, Berlin, exhibition (1834), 229
Royal African Company, 56
Royal Pavilion, Brighton, 186
Rubinstein, Anton, 230
Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 42
Ryff, Walther Hermann, Vitruvius Teutsch, 28n3
Sachsen Teschen, Duke Albert von, 164, 222
Sachsen Teschen, Archduke Karl von, 222
Sachsen Teschen, Archduchess Maria Christine
von, 164
Sachsen Weimar, grand dukes of, collection,
i83ni2
Sacred College of Cardinals, 90
sacristy cabinets, 8, 8ni2
St. Donat's, Wales, 64
St. Giles's House, Dorset, 138
Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, mala-
chite columns, 224
St. James's Palace, London, 148
Saint Joseph's Guild, 40
Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, baldachin, 90
salamander motif, 29, 29, 30, 30117
Salisbury, fifth earl of, 94
Salviati, Francesco, 23
Samoelov (Samarin), Simeon, 193
San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Naples, 12116
San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, facade, 30117
San Simeon, California, 64
Santa Balbina, Rome, episcopal throne, I5n8
Santa Croce, Florence, sacristy panels, 8n6
Saunier, Claude Charles, 221
Savonarola, Girolamo, 1 6
Savonarola chair, term, 14
Savonnerie Manufactory, Paris, 138
Sayer, Robert, 98; The Ladies Amusement; or,
Whole Art of Japanning Made Easy, 99ns, 99119
scarabattola [no. 15], 4, 46, 46, 47
Scarsdale, Nicholas, fourth earl of, 94
scented wood, 37117
Schelhammer, tomb monument for (Johannes
Hannart), 6on7
Scheu, Andreas, 236119
Schinkel, Karl Friedrich, 226, 228, 230, 236
armchair [no. 95], 226-29, 227; design for
[fig. 130], 2 2 8 , 22S
candelabra (Berlin), 230
porcelain table probably designed by [no. 96],
5-6,229-30,230,231
Schleunig, Johann Georg, 136
Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, Schinkel Pavilion
armchairs, 228
candelabra, 230
table, 2 3 1 m l
Schloss Kefering, near Regensberg, 107
Schloss Nymphenburg, near Munich. See
Amalienburg hunting lodge
Schloss Seehof (Marquardsburg), near Bamberg,
117-19, i i 9 m o , i i 9 n i 2 , 122, 152, 152-53,
'54, I54ni4
Audience Chamber (garden room), Francken-
Stein Pavilion, 153, 154; design for (attrib-
uted to Franz Anton Ermeltraut) [fig. 89],
152, 153; furnishings for, 5, 152, 153-54;
settee from [no. 61], 4, 152-54,153
Green Salon, painting of (Fritz Bayerlein), 122
Zandt family dining room [fig. 90], 152, 154
Schloss Wörlitz, chairs (David Roentgen), i83n25
Schmidt, Friedrich von, 236
Schmidt, Johann Michael, 107
Schnegg, Johann, 136
Schneider, Gaspard, stand for jewel coffer,
i64n4
Schneidkistler, 106
Schönborn, Cardinal Damián Hugo von, prince-
bishop of Speyer, n o
Schönborn, Friedrich Karl von, prince-bishop of
Bamberg and Würzburg, 108-10
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Chinese (Blue) Salon,
tabletops, 238
Schottmüller, Frida, 20
Schubring, Paul, 16
Schwiter, Louis-August, 62
Schwiter, M., collection, 61, 62
Scudamore, James, third Viscount, 84
2-79
ScLilpicio, Giovanni, 28n3
seating. See armchairs; chairs; settees; side chairs;
sofa
seaweed marquetry, 68, 69, 70, 70-71, 7in3
secrétaires à abattant, 170-71, 171, 198-201,
2 0 0 , 2 0 1 , 2 0 4 - 6 , 2 0 5 , 206, 2 1 0 - 1 3 , 2 1 1
secrétaires à cylindre, term, 145. See also rolltop
desks
secrétaires en armoire, 198-201, 200, 201, 205,
206, 206
secretaries
French, with caryatid mounts (Guillaume
Benneman) [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
French, with Japanese lacquer (Jean-Henri
Riesener) [no. 83], 3, 198-201, 199,
200, 201
German, "royal secretary" for Louis XVI
(David Roentgen), 180, 182, i83n7
Italian, with lacca povera decoupage [no. 36I,
96-99, 96, 97, 98
secretaries on stand
with lacquer panels (Adam Weisweiler)
[no. 89I, 5, 2 10-13, 2 I I J related secretary
(Amsterdam), 2 i 3 n i 2
with porcelain mounts (attributed to Martin
Carlin) [no. 71], 170-71, 171; similar piece
(stamped by Carlin) (Los Angeles), 170,
172113
with porcelain mounts (Adam Weisweiler),
170, I 7 2 n 2
Seinsheim, Adam Friedrich von, prince-bishop of
Würzburg and Bamberg, 152-53
Seligmann, Jacques, Paris, 82, 133
sella curulis, 12
Sene, Jean-Baptiste-Claude, 207; daybed, arm-
chair, and fire screen [nos. 86-88], 3, 207-10,
207, 208, 209
Serlio, Sebastiano, Regole generali dì architettura,
28n3
settees
English, with gilded-gesso decoration [no. 37],
9 9 - 1 0 0 , 100
English, with Gobelins tapestry cover (John
Mayhew and William Ince) [no. 64],
159-60,159
English, from Grimsthorpe Castle suite
[fig- 75I, I 2 4 , Î24, 125
English, from Marquand residence (Sir
Lawrence Alma-Tadema; Johnstone,
Norman, and Company) [no. 103],
242-45, 2 4 3 , 243
French, with Beauvais tapestry covers (Nicolas-
Quinibert Foliot) [fig. 79], 129, 130
French, canapé for apartment of Marie
Antoinette (San Francisco), 1 8 0 m ,
i8on9
French, in "Marie Antoinette Set," 189,
I 9 2 n 2 , I92n3
German, from Schloss Seehof [no. 61], 4,
152-54, 153
Italian, with verre églomisé panels [fig. 124],
214, 214
ribbonback, 134
Severoceské Museum, Libérée, mirror, 82
Sèvres porcelain plaques, furniture mounted with,
3, 156, 162-63; attributed to Martin Carlin
desk [no. 63], 3, 156-58, 157
jewel coffer on stand [no. 67], 3, 22, 162-64,
163,164
secretary on stand [no. 71], 170-71, 171
Sèvres porcelain vases, mounts for, 226
Sewining, Johann Christian, and Karl Wanschaff,
after Karl Friedrich Schinkel, armchair
[no. 95], 226-29, 227
Seymour, Richard, The Court-Gamester, 92
sgabello a tre gambe, form, 18. See also Strozzi
chair
Shaftesbury, earls of, 138; fourth earl, 138
Sheafer, Emma Alexander, 4, 119, 122, 136, 154
Sheafer, Lesley G., 4
Sheafer, Lesley and Emma, collection, 4, 5, 112,
119, 122, I23n6, 136, 136m
Shelburne, Lord, 165
shelf. See standing shelf
showcase on stand (scarabattola) [no. 15], 4, 46,
46,47
Shugborotigh Hall, Staffordshire, tables, 113
Sibenbürger, Jeremías, 42; collector's cabinet
gilded by [no. 13], 2, 40-43, 40, 41, 42
side chairs
Austrian, Biedermeier style (Danhauser's K. K.
Priv. Möbel-Fabrik) [no. 93], 221-22,
222, 223
Dutch, with carved and openwork back
[no. 26], 74-76, 75
English, from Burley suite (attributed to
Thomas Roberts), 72m
English, from Goldsborough Hall suite
(Thomas Chippendale) [no. 68], 165, 165
English, from Houghton Hall suite (attributed
to Richard Roberts) [no. 32J, 88, 88, 89
English, lacquered (Giles Grendey) [fig. 61],
1 0 3 , 1 0 4 , 105
English, ribbonback [no. 52], 134, 135
English, with verre églomisé panel (attributed
to Thomas How) [no. 35], 94, 95
French, with balloon finials and horseshoe-
shaped seat (Georges Jacob; Jules-Hugues
Rousseau and Jean-Siméon de la Rottière)
[no. 84], 5, 202-4, 202, 203; related chairs
with horseshoe-shaped seats, 204n6
French, from "Marie Antoinette Set" (Georges
Jacob), I92n2
French, from suite for Marie Antoinette, for
use of Louis XVI (Jacques Gondouin;
François Foliot II) (New York), 178
German, from Schloss Seehof, 153, 1 5 4 ^ ,
154119
Italian, with verre églomisé panels [no. 90],
2 1 4 , 215
side tables
English, for George IV (attributed to William
Chambers) (Los Angeles), 184, 186, i86n6
English, for George IV (probably after a
design by John Yenn) [no. 76], 184-86,
185, 185; pair to (London), 184, 186,
186m, i86n2, i86n3
English, from Great Drawing Room, Gower
House (attributed to Sefferin Aiken after
William Chambers) (London) [fig. 107],
184,184, i86n7
English, Palladian style (attributed to Matthias
Lock after Henry Flitcroft) [no. 43], 3,
113,113-14
French (after Charles Le Brun), 61
French, in Grand Galerie, Versailles, 62n6
French commode en console, with Japanese
lacquer veneer (Bernard van Risenburgh II)
|no. 56], 142, 143
Silberhändler, 82
Silberkistler, 82
Silberschreiner, 82
sillon de cadera [no. 3], 12-14, I 3
silver furniture, at Versailles, 61, 81, 93, 101
silver table, term, 140
silver tankard (Jürgen Richels) (Wetzlar), 431112
silver tripod, 20114
Smirke, Sir Robert, 213
Smith, Joseph, 148
sofa (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle Cappello)
[no. 971,232-33,232
Sofia Spring Fair, 192
Sommer, Catherine, 56115
Sommer, Eberhardt, 53
Sommer, Jacques, 53
Sommer, Johann Daniel II, 53, 54, 55
collector's cabinet (Kiinzelsau) [fig. 31], 55,55
table for Count Albrecht von Hohenlohe-
Langenburg, 53, 54
traveling apothecary for margrave of
Brandenburg-Kulmbach, 53
wig cabinet [no. 18], 53-56, 54, 55
Sommer, Johann Eberhart, 54
Sotheby's, London, 88, 125
Souza, Guedes de, 204
sphinx motif, 227, 228
Spranger, Bartholomäus, 43nio
Stalker, John, and George Parker, Treatise of
Japaning and Varnishing, 104-5
Standen, Edith Appleton, 6
standing shelf (William Linnell) [no. 49], 126-28,
127; others in suite and copies after, 128,
I28n2, 1 2 8 m l
Stanislas Leszczyñski, king of Poland, 61-62;
throne of [fig. 35], 61, 61
Stanton, Ruth, Family Foundation, i75n6
state beds, 64
Burley-on-the-Hill [fig. 43], 72, 72
design for (Daniel Marot) [fig. 38], 64, 64
Hampton Court: for Baron Coningsby
[no. 22], 64, 65; for King's Bedroom
(now at Het Loo), 64
Houghton Hall (William Kent), 88
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, 230
armchair (attributed to Nicolas-Quinibert
Foliot), 121115
tables, 194
State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, 230
Stauffenberg, Marquard Sebastian Schenk von,
prince-bishop of Bamberg, 117
Stegmann, Hans, 18
Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-
Brandenburg, armchairs (Karl Friedrich
Schinkel), 228
Stowe, Buckinghamshire, suite said to be
from, 99
Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire, 148
Strozzi, Carlo, funeral monument of (Naples
formerly), I2n6
Stiozzi, Filippo di Matteo di Simone, io, 12,
I 2 n 7 , 20
impresa of: on chest, io, io; on tondo of chair,
18, 20
medal of (attributed to Niccolò Fiorentino)
(Washington, D.C.) [fig. 9], iS, 20
Strozzi chair (attributed to the workshop of
Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano) [no. 5], 4,
18-20, 18, 19
Strozzi family, 10-12, I2n6, 18-20
Strozzi Palace, Florence, 20
Stuart, James, and Nicholas Revett, The
Antiquities of Athens, 196, 196
studiolo, from Gubbio, 8
Stupinigi, near Turin, 198
sultane, 207, 207-8
Sutton Scarsdale, Derbyshire, 94
Swanenburgh, Jacoba van, 6on3
Swanenburgh family, 6on3
swan motif, 217, 218
table cabinets, 34
tables
Austrian (Theophil Hansen) with Italian top
[no. 100I, 236-38, 237, 237
French, in Egyptian taste (Paris), 210111 5
French, with floral marquetry (attributed to
Pierre Gole) [no. 14J, 5, 43-45, 44, 45,
53
Italian, for Farnese Palace (Jacopo Barozzi da
Vignola; Guglielmo della Porta; Giovanni
Mynardo) [no. 7], 4, 22n4, 23-25, 23,
24-25
Italian, in Neo-Egyptian style [no. 70], 4,
168-69, I ^ 9
model for a multifunctional table (David
Roentgen), 1761110
Russian, Tula ware (Tsarskoye Selo) |fig. 113],
194, 194
See also card tables; center table; china table;
console tables; mechanical tables; porcelain
table; side tables; tea tables; traveling
tables; writing tables
tables de carrosse. See traveling tables
tables de voyage. See traveling tables
tables pliantes (folding tables). See traveling tables
tabletop, design for, attributed to John Yenn
(London) [fig. 106], 184, 186, i86n9
tabouret (stool), for Saint-Cloud, 208, 2ion3
Talleyrand-Périgord, Anna, duchess of, 130
tapestries. See Beauvais Manufactory; Gobelins
Manufactory
tapestry room, Bernstorff Palace, 129-30,129
[fig- 78], 130116
Tapestry Room from Croóme Court,
Worcestershire [fig. 93], 3, 159-60, 160
tarsia a toppo, 8, 9, 9, 13, 14
Taunton, Henry Labouchère, Baron, 236, 236ni9
Taylor, George Watson, collection, 201
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich, 230
tea chest (Abraham Roentgen), 175m
tea equipment, 140
tea tables, 140, 141m, I 4 i n 2 . See also china table
Tempesta, Antonio, 30
Temple Newsam House, Leeds
armchairs and side chairs (Giles Grendey),
I05n8
chairs (attributed to Thomas How), 94, 94n7
side chair (attributed to Richard Roberts),
88
tables (Henry Flitcroft), 113
Terence, 42, 43ni2
Terrasse, Charles, 213
Teruzzi, Attilio, 46
Teruzzi, Lilliana, 4, 46, 90, 90m
Tessier, Louis, 159
Tessin, Nicodemus the Younger, 81
Thelot, Johann Andreas, 81
altar clock on table-stand with reliefs by
(Munich), 81
mirror with medallions possibly by [no. 29],
81-82, 82,83
Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus, 234
Thiers, Louis-Antoine Crozat, Baron de, 129
Thomire, Étienne-Jean, 206
Thomire, Pierre-Philippe, 206, 226; vase with Vernon House, London, 1 58
mounts and pedestal by [no. 94], 224-26, verre églomisé, 94, 94, 95, 214, 214
224, 225 Versailles, Bibliothèque de la Conservation,
Thornton, Peter, 8 n n drawing, "Grand Cabinet" with Writing Desk
Throne of King Stanislas (Th. Boys) |fig. 351, 61, 61 and Mirror [fig. 28], 52
Throne of Scipio, 14 Versailles, Château de, 50, 177
Thurn und Taxis Museum, Regensburg, table armchair from Saint-Cloud (Jean-Baptiste-
(Karl Friedrich Schinkel), 2 3 1 m l Claude Sene), 208, 2ion3
Tietz, Ferdinand, 118, 122 armchairs, bedroom of Louis XIV, 61
Tilliard, Jean-Baptiste, 122x16 bureaux (commodes), 86112
Tipping, H. Avray, 64, 126 Galerie des Glaces, 48
Titian, 23 jewel coffer on stand (Martin Carlin), 22, 162,
Todesco, Eduard, 237 164116
Toledo Museum of Art, "French Furnishings of rolltop desk (Jean-François Oeben; Jean-Henri
the Eighteenth Century" exhibition (1933), Riesener), 145
171 tapestry depicting royal visit to Gobelins, 43,
torchères. See candlestands 53-54
Toulouse, comte de, 190 FORMERLY IN
ToLirnay (carver), 206 armchair for Marie Antoinette (Jacques
Townshend House, London, 245n2 Gondouin; François Foliot II; Mme Pierre-
traveling tables (tables de carrosse, tables de voy- Edme Babel; Marie-Catherine Renon)
age, tables pliantes) [no. 74I, 3, 178-80, 179
French [no. 28], 79-80, 79, 80 commode and secretary for Marie Antoinette
German (workshop of David Roentgen), (Jean-Henri Riesener) [nos. 82, 831, 3,
I75n6 I98-2OI, I98, I99, I99, 200, 201
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), 119 mechanical table for Marie Antoinette (Jean-
Trebizond (Trabzon), 10, 12 Henri Riesener) [no. 77], 3, 177, 187,
Trianon. See Grand Trianon; Petit Trianon 187-89, 188, 209, 2 i o n i 4
tripod, 216. See also athéniennes mechanical table for Marie Antoinette (Jean-
tripod chairs, 2on4, 2oni6. See also Strozzi Henri Riesener; Jean-Gotfritt Mercklein)
chair [no. 731, 176-77, r 7 6 , i 7 7
tripod tables, 20114 secretary for Louis XVI (Guillaume
Tuileries. See Palais des Tuileries Benneman) [no. 85], 204-6, 205, 206
Tula ware, 6, 192-94, 193, 194, 224 side tables with pieds de biche, 61, 62116
Tullibardine, marquess of, 152 silver furniture, 61, 81, 93, 101
Tuppo, Francisco, woodcuts for Aesop's Fables, suite for Grand Cabinet of Marie Antoinette,
29 178, 180m; armchair [no. 74], 3, 178-80,
turquerie, 12 179; bergère and fire screen (New York),
178-80; side chair (New York), 178
University of Warsaw, Library, engraved advertise- writing desk for Louis XIV (Jean Bérain;
ment by Jean-Henri Eberts [fig. 97], 166, 166 Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt) [no. 17],
Unselt, Johann, 48 50-53,50,51,52, 53ml
Untermyer, Irwin, 3-4, 6, 58, 74-76, 93, 94n5, writing table for Louis XV (Gilles Joubert)
125, 128, 138, 141, 146, 162, 195; apartment [no. 57I, 5, 144-45, 144, 144, 145
entrance hall, 4, 76 Versailles, Trianon. See Grand Trianon; Petit
Upton House, Warwickshire, side tables, 99 Trianon
Urania, 23 Vianen, Paulus van, gold beaker, 43ni2
Urban Vili, Pope (Maffeo Barberini), 28-29, 3 o , Victoria, queen of England, 226
3 on 5 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
album of drawings (Matthias Lock), 113
Vaga, Perino del, 22 armchairs (Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema),
Valentiner, William R., 2 2451113
Vanbrugh, Sir John, 124 armchairs for Saint-Cloud (Jean-Baptiste-
Vanderbilt, William Henry, 226 Claude Sene), 208, 2ion3
Vanderbilt, William K., 3 bed, commode, and armchairs in Chinese style
Vanderbilt, Mrs. William K., 201 (William and John Linnell), 128, i28n8,
Vandercruse, Roger (called Lacroix), 151 i28nio, 128ml
Vanvitelli, Carlo, 213 cabinet (attributed to Jan van Mekeren), 78n3,
Varengeville Room, from Hôtel Varengeville, 78ml
Paris, 6 cabinet on stand (attributed to Pierre Gole),
Vasari, Giorgio, Lives, 10 45n8
vase, malachite (mounts and pedestal by Pierre- chandelier (James Moore and John Gumley),
Philippe Thomire) [no. 94], 224-26, 224, 225 85,85115
vase, malachite (Windsor), 226 Chinese paper hangings, i 2 8 m o
Vatican Palace commode (David Roentgen), 180, 181,
Logge (Raphael), 22, 216 182-83, 1 8 3 m l , i 8 3 n i 2
Sala dell'Incendio (Raphael), 168 daybed (Giles Grendey), 105118
Venice, 1 2 design for a side table, 113
Venus motif, 42, 431110, 48 mechanical table (Jean-François Oeben), 152
Verbeckt, Jacques, 145 medal cabinet (attributed to William Vile and
vernis Martin, 144, 145 John Cobb) [fig. 85], 148, 148
281
 settee and chairs, ribbonback, 134
side chair (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello), 233
side chair (attributed to Richard Roberts), 88,
88n3
side chairs (Georges Jacob), 204116
side table (after John Yenn), 184, 186, i 8 6 m ,
i86n2, i86n3
Victorian furniture, 3
Vien, Joseph-Marie, La Vertueuse Athénienne, 166
Vienna exhibition (1873), 2-4°
Vienna Musikverein, Golden Hall, 236
Vienna Philharmonie, 236
Vignola, Jacopo Barozzi da, 24, 25n2, 2 5 m o
Farnese table |no. 7], 4, 22n4, 23-25, 23,
24-25
Guicciardini table, 25nio
Vile, William, 146, 148
Vile, William, and John Cobb, attributed to
commode [no. 58], 146, 147
medal cabinet [no. 59], 148, 148, 149, 184
medal cabinet (London) [fig. 85], 148, 148
Villa Farnesina, Rome, Galatea (Raphael), 186
Villa Giulia, Rome, fountains (Bartolommeo
Ammanati), 22
Villa Palagonia, Bagheria, 214, 2i5n4
Villa San Donato, near Florence, 224, 226
Vincent, Clare, 29
Vinckenbrinck, Albert, pulpit, Nieuwe Kerk,
Amsterdam, 34m 6
Vinne, Leonardo van der, 43
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, side
chair (Filippo Pelagio Palagi; Gabrielle
Cappello), 232-33
virtues, 31, 33, 35
Vitruvius Pollio, De architectura, 28n3
Vittorio Amadeo III, duke of Savoy and king of
Sardinia, 197
Vleeschouwer, Jacques, 133
Voelker, Gottfried Wilhelm, porcelain table with
garland design painted by [no. 96], 5, 229-30,
230,231
Volpi, Elia, 16
Volterra, Daniele da, 23
Vredeman de Vries, Hans, 34
Vredeman de Vries, Paul, 34
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
commodes (Charles Cressent), i i 6 n 5
writing table (Guillaume Benneman), i 4 6 n i o
Wakefield, Humphry, 57
wall brackets, from Schloss Seehof, 153, I54n6
wall hangings
after Charles Le Brun, 61
in "Marie Antoinette Set," 189, I92n2
for tapestry room, Bernstorff Palace [fig. 78],
129, 129, i3on4
walnut, 74
Walpole, Horace, 148
Walpole, Sir Robert, 88
walrus-ivory carving, I94n2
Walters, Henry, 133
Walters, Mrs. Henry (Sarah Green), 133
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 133
Wanschaff, Karl. See Sewining, Johann Christian,
and Karl Wanschaff
War of the Austrian Succession, 119
Washington, George, 178
Watin, Jean-Félix, 166
L'art de faire et d'employer le vernis, 99115
L'art du peintre, doreur, vemisseur, 99n8, 166,
202-4
Watson, Sir Francis J. B., 6, 166, 202
Watteau, Antoine, engravings after [fig. 57], 98, 98
Webb, Philip, 234, 236; cabinet [no. 99], 3,
234-36,235
Weeting Hall, Norfolk, tables from, 186
Weimar, grand duchess of, 229
Weisweiler, Adam, 212-13
commode [fig. 122], 210, 212, 212, 213
rolltop desk [fig. 123], 210, 212, 213
secretary on stand, with lacquer panels
[no. 89I, 5, 210-13, 211; related secretary
(Amsterdam), 2 i 3 n i 2
secretary on stand, with porcelain mounts,
172112
Wellington, second duke of, 148
Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire, table,
«3
Wertheimer, Charles, London, 130, 1 3 0 m l
West, James, 146
Weston Park, Shropshire, tapestries (Gobelins), 160
Wied, Johann Friedrich Alexander zu, count of
Neuwied, 172, 183m 3
Wiener Stil, 236
wig cabinets (cabinets de toilette), 56x11; with
tortoise-shell and pewter marquetry (Johann
Daniel Sommer II) [no. 18], 53-56, 54, 55
Wilhelm August, prince of Holstein-Gottorp, 193,
194
Wille, Johann Georg, 182
William I the Conquerer, 218
William I, Holy Roman Emperor, 226
William III of Orange-Nassau, Dutch stadholder
and king of England, 60, 64, 72, 74, 85
William, George, 159
Willoughby de Eresby, Peter Robert, twenty-first
baron, 125
Willoughby de Eresby, Priscilla, baroness, 124,
125
Willoughby de Eresby family, 124
Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire, table, 113
Winckelmann, Johann Joachim, 168
Windsor Castle, 186
malachite vase, 226
Queen Charlotte's Drawing Room, side tables
possibly for, 186
settees and chairs, 99
Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg
jewelry gallery, 192
Malachite Room, 224
Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire
commode, 15 5
library ceiling (William Chambers after Reni)
(destroyed), 186, i 8 6 n i 8
Wolff, Jeremías, 81
Wrightsman, Charles, 171
Wrightsman, Mr. and Mrs. Charles, 5, 6, 132,
1 4 2 , 1 4 5 , 170, 2 0 2 , 204
Wrightsman, Jayne (Mrs. Charles), 5-6
Wrightsman Fund, 5
Wrightsman Galleries, 5, 6
writing cabinet, mechanical. See mechanical
writing cabinet
writing desks
bureau brisé (Jean Bérain; Alexandre-Jean
Oppenordt) [no. 17], 5, 50-53, 50, 51, 52;
matching companion piece, 52, 53
"Grand Cabinet" with, 52
of Madame, with pieds de biche, 79
See also desk (bonheur-du-jour); jewel coffers
on stand; secretaries; writing tables
writing tables, 132, 1 3 3 ^
bureau plat (Gilles Joubert) [no. 571, 5,
144-45,144, 144,145
with floral marquetry in shaped frame
(Bernard van Risenburgh II) [no. 51],
I
3 2 - 3 3 , I 3 2 , !33
for Louis XVI (Guillaume Benneman), 145,
1461110
for Maria Feodorovna (Los Angeles),
1721H0
See also desk; mechanical tables; writing
desks
Würth, Reinhold, Collection, Künzelsau,
collector's cabinet (Johann Daniel Sommer II)
[fig- }i\, 55,55
Württemberg, Duke Karl Eugen von, 136
Württemberg, Friederike von, 194
Württemberg, Sophia-Dorothea von. See Maria
Feodorovna
Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart,
console table, 136
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, painting,
64
Yenn, John, 186; design for a tabletop attributed
to (London) [fig. 106], 184, 186, i86n9;
side table probably after [no. 76], 184-86,
185,185
Zandt, Freiherr Franz Joseph von, I 5 4 n i 4
Zandt, Freiherr Friedrich von, 119, 154; dining
room, Schloss Seehof [fig. 90], 152, 1 54
Zick, Januarius, 175, I 7 6 n i 5 , 182; commode
with figured marquetry designed by [no. 75],
180-83,181
Photograph Credits
Photographs of the furniture in the Museum's col-
lection are by Joseph Coscia, Jr. unless otherwise
indicated in the following list or in the captions
to the images on the CD-ROM. Photographs of
other objects in the Museum's collection or taken
from books in the Museum's libraries are also
credited below.
Photographs of objects in other collections
or taken from books in other libraries were pro-
vided by the museums, galleries, libraries, and
private collectors named in the figure captions.
The publishers wish to thank those persons and
institutions for permitting the reproduction of
their works and for supplying photographs.
Additional information regarding copyrights
and credits is provided below.
Christie's, London: fig. 53
Country Life Picture Library, London: figs. 43, 77
© Foto-Commissie Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: fig. 33
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
illustrations on pages 2 (from an album in the
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan The New York Public Library: figs. 63 (from
Museum of Art), 3, 4 above, 4 below (Richard Cristina de la Cruz de Arteaga y Falguera, La
Taylor, photographer), 5, 6; figs. 4, 6, 12, 16, 19, Casa del Infantado: Cabeza de los Mendoza, vol. 2
35 (courtesy the Thomas J. Watson Library), 38, [Madrid, 1944I), 134
40 (from Peter Fuhring, "Armoire 'au char
d'Apollon' attribuée à André-Charles Boulle," in Imerio Palumbo (photographer): fig. 5
L'armoire "au char d'Apollon" par André-Charles
Boulle, exh. cat., Galerie J. Kugel [Paris, 1994I), Rading Reklamefoto, Copenhagen: fig. 78
44, 48, 49, 50 55, 57, 65 (from Adolf Feulner and
Preston Remington, "Examples of South German Sotheby's, London: fig. 76
Woodwork in the Metropolitan Museum," in
Metropolitan Museum Studies 2, pt. 2 [1930]), 67 Hans Westerink, Zwolle (photographer): fig. 21
(from Heinrich Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen
Möbels: Möbel und Vertäfelungen des deutschen T Zóltowska-Huszcza (photographer): fig. 97
Sprachraums von den Anfängen bis zum Jugendstil,
vol. 2, Spätbarock und Rokoko, 2nd ed., rev. by
Georg Himmelheber [Mimich, 1983]), 72, 74, 81,
82, 93, 96, 98 (from Alvar González-Palacios, ed.,
Fasto romano: Dipinti, sculture, arredi dai palazzi
di Roma, exh. cat., Palazzo Sacchetti [Rome, 1991]),
101, 112, 113 (from Antoine Chenevière, Russian
Furniture: The Golden Age, 1780-1840 [London,
1988]), 114 (courtesy the Thomas J. Watson
Library), 136 (courtesy the Thomas J. Watson
Library), 138
283
 (continued from front flap)

Photographs in color and black and white of the

featured pieces, including full views and many
details, were made expressly for this book by Joseph
Coscia, Jr., Associate Chief Photographer at the
Museum. Three hundred fifty-eight additional color
images can be accessed on a CD-ROM disk in a
sleeve at the back of the book. Many of them disclose
hidden or hard-to-see aspects of the furniture, such as
makers' marks, details of construction and finishing,
and secret drawers. Others offer closed and partially
open views of folding and multifunctional furniture.
In addition, close-ups and zoom shots of intricate
inlay, sparkling gilt-bronze and silver mounts, and
richly textured upholstery are featured.

292 pages, 134 color photographs, 115 black-and-

white details of the objects and comparative illustra-
tions. Bibliography, glossary, index, CD-ROM (with
358 color images and captions).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Distributed by Yale University Press, New Haven
and London

Printed in Singapore